The condition of major roads in East Anglia, including the A47 and the A11, has been branded the worst in England by the government's transport watchdog.
A new report shows the condition of National Highways' road surfaces in the east region - including Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Bedfordshire - is consistently lower than the rest of the country.
The national target is for 96.2pc of roads to be assessed as being in good condition, but in the east, that figure was 93.6pc, while the region also ranked worst in categories for rutting, ride quality and skid resistance.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) report says the east has had the lowest proportion of good condition road surfaces for the last three years.
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Regional roads which government company National Highways manages include the A11 and A47 in Norfolk and the A12 and A14 in Suffolk.
The report did not look at other A-roads, which are the responsibility of Norfolk County Council.
The ORR acknowledged the east has a higher proportion of A-roads, which are harder to maintain, and more concrete roads, which do not perform as well as asphalt.
But the watchdog said, even when those factors are accounted for, the east underperforms.
It said it expected National Highways to continually review local and regional variations, with a particular focus on the east.
Feras Alshaker, director of planning and performance at ORR said: "We will continue to hold National Highways to account, including on road surface condition, a key output of its asset management decision making, on behalf of all users of the strategic road network."
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National Highways recently spent £65m to resurface a section of the A11 near Wymondham and has started preparatory work to dual two sections of the A47.
Duncan Smith, National Highways executive director for operations, said: "We regularly inspect our roads to help reduce the potential for potholes to form and we are meeting national targets designed to ensure our road surfaces are kept in a good condition.
"Our latest assessment shows more than 96pc of our roads are in good condition and we continue to improve the surface of our roads, including in the east of England."
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