It's not just the roads, it's everything. Most pension money is invested in UK bonds. UK treasury department focuses on a set of very narrow spending criteria, so much so that it's hard for governments to spend money on investments.

And then it's not just the NHS. My point is, rather, that extreme risk aversion in the short term can actually increase the medium-term risk. If the UK could generate a few extra 0.1% of GDP growth per year in exchange for some risk, that would seem an overall better world to be in.