With the rollout of the Department for Transport’s 2025 PAS 2161:2024 standard fast approaching, local authorities and councils have a crucial opportunity to modernise how they manage road infrastructure. Here's what councils need to know and, importantly, how to get ahead.
The Backstory
In 2024, compliance with road condition data collection dropped among local authorities, with 81% using SCANNER for 'A' roads and 68% for 'B' and 'C' roads, down from 99% and 98% in 2018, respectively. The new standard introduced in September 2024, PAS 2161, allows for a broader range of technology while ensuring data consistency. This change aims to improve the collection of road condition data amidst varying practices across local authorities. But why does it matter and how can councils get ahead with this imminent change?
Why Adopting PAS 2161 Technology Matters
Local authorities across England are under growing pressure to stretch limited budgets while maintaining safe, reliable roads. Government road condition data shows that in 2024, 4% of local ‘A’ roads were classified as red (poor condition).
Enter PAS 2161:2024, the new BSI-published specification designed to bring consistency, accuracy, and innovation to Road Condition Monitoring (RCM). The Department for Transport (DfT) has backed this transition by launching nationwide trials in 2025 to evaluate next-generation monitoring technologies.
Councils that prepare early not only stand to improve their infrastructure, but also to save time and money and stay compliant with evolving central government expectations.
What Is PAS 2161?
Published in September 2024 by BSI and sponsored by the DfT, PAS 2161:2024 sets out a flexible framework for assessing the condition of carriageways using a range of modern technologies, including Automated Intelligence (AI).
Unlike SCANNER, which relied on fixed criteria and specific vehicle types, PAS 2161 focuses on the quality of the data output, not the method of collection. This opens the door for innovation while ensuring consistent reporting across the country.
In short: If a tech solution meets PAS 2161 standards, it can be used by councils to assess and report road condition data for funding and planning purposes.
Key features of PAS 2161:2024 include:
The specification outlines detailed guidelines for gathering, processing, and reporting road condition data to enhance accuracy, consistency, and usability.
- Classifying condition: Establish uniform standards for categorising road conditions to improve comparison across different regions.
- Technological framework: Encourage innovation from compliant technology to collect data.
- Data integrity: Rigorous requirements to validate data precision and quality.
- Network coverage: Define required data collection for practical and appropriate reporting, nationally.
- Reporting frequency: Establish timelines to keep road condition information current.
- Format: Standardised data submission formats to allow integration into national systems.
- Capability demonstration: Road Condition Monitoring providers must prove their technologies meet performance benchmarks set out by the DfT.
What’s Being Trialled Now?
Current trials are designed to validate the performance of modern RCM technologies (such as Route Reports) by comparing their outputs to benchmark data gathered by council engineers on the ground.
The initiative builds on successful pilots, like the one conducted in Surrey in 2023, and will expand to cover a wide range of road types, geographies, and data suppliers. Technologies that perform well against the benchmark will be granted "demonstrated" status, providing councils with confidence when choosing a provider.
Why it matters: Using a demonstrated technology will likely become the fastest, most reliable way to prove compliance and unlock central government funding. Route Reports is firmly committed to this whole process and already seeing impactful results. Accreditation of demonstrated technologies will take place later in 2025.
The Benefits of Early Adoption
Being early to the table brings a range of strategic advantages:
- Efficiency: AI-based data capture removes the need for expensive and time-consuming manual surveys.
- Better planning: High-frequency, high-accuracy data allows for proactive maintenance strategies instead of reactive fixes.
- Cost savings: Councils can spend less on emergency repairs and more on long-term improvements.
- Funding readiness: Early adopters will be best positioned to respond quickly to future DfT funding opportunities.
Councils using data-led maintenance planning can expect to significantly reduce long-term repair costs, according to recent government reports.
“The focus should now shift toward rapid deployment of these tools to ensure innovation translates into tangible improvements without delay.”
(Highways Magazine, 2025)
The Role of AI in Road Condition Monitoring
AI is at the heart of this transformation, and it's already proving its value. Solutions like Route Reports Road Condition Monitoring use AI-driven technologies to continuously monitor road conditions via vehicle-mounted sensors. These solutions can assess multiple factors simultaneously: surface condition, potholes, ride comfort, and even road markings.
As the shift toward autonomous vehicles and smart cities gains pace, councils will increasingly need real-time, high-quality data on every aspect of the road network. AI makes that possible - cost-effectively and at scale.
How to Overcome Barriers
It’s no surprise that everyone understands budgets are tight. Teams are stretched, and change can feel daunting. But the good news is that PAS 2161 isn’t about adding more work; it’s about working smarter, with better tools.
Here’s how councils can overcome typical roadblocks:
--> Worried about resourcing? AI solutions run in the background - there’s no need for specialist in-house teams. Teams using the technology just need to be onboarded properly for real impact to be realised.
--> Uncertain about compliance? Route Reports has been developing technology in line with PAS 2161 standards and already being adopted by several councils in the UK, a steady roll out of this technology across other councils is gaining pace.
--> Need internal buy-in? Share the cost-benefit story: more accurate data today means fewer emergency repairs tomorrow.
How Route Reports Can Help
At Route Reports, we’re on a mission to make road condition data more accurate, accessible, and actionable. Our AI-driven technologies and user friendly platform interface captures and allows for continuous analysis of data providing detailed condition insights in a format that aligns with PAS 2161.
Route Reports helps local authorities:
- Capture and submit PAS 2161:2024 compliant data
- Monitor entire networks consistently and affordably
- Access granular insights to support planning, investment, and compliance
- Prepare for future DfT reporting and funding opportunities
We’re already working with forward-thinking councils and transport bodies across the UK — and we’re ready to support you too.
The Time to Act Is Now
The 2025 DfT demonstration trials aren’t just a technical exercise; they’re a signal of where the industry is headed. Councils that engage now will not only be better positioned for compliance but will gain a valuable head start in modernising how they manage their networks.
The transition to PAS 2161 offers a rare window to leap forward. Route Reports is here to help you make that leap, quickly, confidently, and with maximum long-term benefit.
Want to prepare for the Pas 2161:2024 roll out with confidence? Get in touch today and speak with one of our team.
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