The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) is marking its 25th anniversary.

The highways industry trade body, which was established in 2000 to increase awareness of the asphalt industry and its activities, is a partnership between the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and Eurobitume.

It works to promote the uses and benefits of asphalt as an essential and sustainable solution for road maintenance and construction to specifiers, policymakers and the general public.

Over the past 25 years, awareness of the AIA and its activities has grown, and it is now recognised as an authoritative, independent voice on industry issues.

One of the AIA’s best-known activities is publishing the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, which gathers data from local authorities on the condition of the local road network in England and Wales and the funding allocated to its maintenance.

The aim of ALARM, and the ongoing work of the AIA throughout the year, is to raise awareness of road maintenance and condition issues, seeking to inform and influence a change in the amount and methods of funding for local roads.

David Giles, who is the eighth Chair of the AIA, said: “Over the years, ALARM has become integral to, and synonymous with, the national debate on ‘the potholes problem’ and the AIA continues to use its findings to emphasise the importance of increased, sustained and targeted investment in maintenance of our local roads.”

The AIA’s call for sustainable, longer-term funding for local roads is reinforced by direct engagement with parliamentarians and policymakers, particularly through its support of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Better Roads in conjunction with the Institute of Highway Engineers.

It also supports collaboration and knowledge sharing across the sector through its annual online Sharing Best Practice event, which brings together local authority highway teams and industry experts to discuss materials and innovation with case studies showing how these are helping to improve the performance and sustainability of the network.

The AIA also hosts RoadFile, an online hub of road-related statistics covering topics such as road usage, traffic volume, safety, environment and funding. It provides the latest publicly available data from trusted UK and EU sources such as the DfT and Eurostat.

“The additional challenges the highways sector faces today such as limited budgets, the need to decarbonise, protecting against the effects of extreme weather events, and rising traffic volumes on a deteriorating network, make our work more important than ever,” said David.

“We will continue to play our part in making the case and calling for targeted and accountable funding over the long term as well as promoting practical, sustainable asphalt solutions that support a resilient road network and help the UK meet its net zero ambitions.”