Road maintenance policy and repair history for A77: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03107
Date received: 26 October 2018
Date responded: 20 November 2018

 

 

“I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act relating to a road your authority is responsible for maintaining.

Specifically, my query relates to the A77 Southbound 1 mile south of Auchencrosh farm entrance map reference 55.063139-4.986527.

Please can you send me:

A copy of your current road maintenance policy relating to that road. Please send me the full policy, but this should include details of the intended frequency of road safety inspections, how these inspections should be conducted and the maximum time between identification of a defect and repairs being carried out.

A copy of the road repair history for that road over the past year. Again, please send me the full road repair history, but this should include:

• dates of all safety inspections between 26th May 2018 to 7th August 2018
• details of how safety inspections were undertaken (walked or driven, speed of inspection vehicle etc)
• details of all carriageway defects identified, with description, date and time
• details of how the authority handled these defects, what repairs were undertaken and the time between identification of each defect and a repair being carried out.”

 

 

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.  We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 

 

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Transport Scotland’s approach to the maintenance of the trunk road network is set out in the 4th Generation Term Contract for management and maintenance of the Scottish Trunk Road Network and our Road Asset Management Plan. Both documents are available online at the following links;

https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/35900/sw-combi.pdf

• Schedule 7: Part 1 of the contract provides an overview of inspections, surveys and defect categories and response times.
• Schedule 7: Part 2: Section 2.7 of the contract provides details of inspections and their frequency during winter.
• Schedule 7: Part 6: Section 3 of the contract details the inspections and their frequency for Structures.

https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/road-asset-management-plan-for-scottish-trunk-roads-january-2016

Please refer to Annex A of this request which is the Inspection Defect Report for the A77 south of Auchencrosh Farm. This details the dates of safety inspections undertaken, all defects discovered within the time frame of 26 May 2018 to 7 August 2018 and the repair dates for the identified defects.

Safety inspections are carried out at frequencies not exceeding seven days. Slip roads and link roads at interchanges will be inspected at the same frequency as the associated main carriageway of the trunk road.  The inspection vehicle will travel around 40 mph.

Where possible safety inspections will be carried out during off-peak traffic periods to minimise traffic disruption.

Safety inspections will be carried out by a team of two. All inspection and safety patrol personnel will be sufficiently responsible and competent for the task, will have received suitable training and be fully conversant with inspection procedures and health and safety requirements prior to undertaking any such inspections

Detailed inspections are also undertaken on each element of the trunk road asset. These are walked inspections and are typically undertaken on an annual basis (although this can change depending on the particular asset being inspected).

Please see below the definition as per the 4th Generation Term Contract for management and maintenance of the Scottish Trunk Road Network. This definition also explains the associated response times to rectify defects.

"Category 1 Defect" means a Defect that necessitates prompt attention because it presents:

(i) an immediate or imminent hazard, or

(ii) a risk of rapid structural deterioration to the affected element.

2.2.7 All other Category 1 Defects shall be repaired permanently within the specific period referred to in this Part, or no later than 28 days after identification where no specific period is stated.”