Information held by Transport Scotland relating to bridges and other structures: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002


Information requested

The definition of a “road bridge” in the ‘Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice’ is a structure with a span of 1.5m or more providing public highway passage for motor vehicles over an obstacle such as a watercourse, railway, road, or valley.

The definition of a retaining wall in the same document is a wall associated with the highway where the dominant function is to act as a retaining structure, and with a minimum retained height of 1.35m.

Using these definitions, please provide the following information for all road bridges and retaining walls which you own as highway authority, including those which are jointly owned with another authority, but for which you are the lead authority.

N.B. if your management system is based on an alternative definition (e.g. 0.9m or 1.8m spans for a bridge) you are welcome to provide this data but please indicate clearly what definition you have used.

With climate impacts and extreme weather events becoming more severe, risks to retaining walls may be as significant a problem highway operation and safety as bridges—particularly with respect to their greater numbers. Therefore, this year, whilst we apologise for the increase in the number of questions, we have decided to include retaining walls within the survey to get a good idea of the scale of the risk.  (Please answer the questions as best you can but indicate if accessing the information is a challenge to your management systems).

These Questions All Relate to the Financial Year 2023/2024.

These questions mirror ones which we have asked your organisation in previous years.

However, please note – that following feedback on last year's survey, we have made some minor changes to some questions, and this has also affected question numbering towards the end of the survey.

1. How many road bridges and retaining walls are you responsible for maintaining? 

a. Road bridge

b. Retaining walls

2. For the last financial year 2023/24:

a. How many Principal Inspections have taken place in that year?

i. Road bridges

ii. Retaining walls

b. How many Principal Inspections did you plan to do in that year?

i. Road bridges

ii. Retaining walls

3. For the last budget year 2023/24:

a. How many General Inspections have taken place in that year?

i. Road bridges

ii. Retaining walls

b. How many General Inspections have taken place in that year?

i. Road bridges

ii. Retaining walls

c. How many General Inspections did you plan to do in that year?

i. Road bridges

ii. Retaining walls

4. For the last financial year 2023/24, how many Structural Reviews did you undertake

5. How many substandard bridges do you have (in terms of ability to carry 44t vehicles)? Please exclude bridges that have weight restrictions for environmental reasons.

a. Of these substandard bridges, how many do you intend to return or upgrade to full load carrying capacity in the next 5 years?

b. How many bridges would you return to full load carrying capacity if you had no resource restrictions?

6. For the last financial year, 2023/24

a. How many post-tensioned bridges do you have?

b. How many of those have had PTSIs within the last 18 years?

c. Of those that have not had a PTSI, how many require/are due one?

d. How much funding would you anticipate is required to remove the backlog of PTSIs for those bridges identified in Q6(c)?

7. In monetary terms, what is the current Depreciation (i.e., difference between your GRC and DRC for 2023/24?

8. What is the calculated value of your workbank? (Workbank is defined as the total value of condition-based maintenance work that has been identified and can be calculated using SAVI or by other means)

9. For the last financial year, 2023/24:

a. What is the annual revenue works expenditure for maintaining your bridge stock (excluding staff costs)?

b. What is the annual capital works budget for maintaining your bridge stock?

c. What total budget would you estimate is required to maintain the bridge stock at its current level (standstill budget)? 

10. For the last financial year, 2023/24:

a. What was the revenue works budget for maintaining your retaining wall stock (excluding staff costs)?

b. What was the capital works budget for maintaining your maintaining wall stock? 

c. What total budget would you estimate is required to maintain the retaining wall stock at its current level (standstill budget)?

11. For the last financial year, 2023/24:

a. How many of your bridges required a Stage 1 Scour Assessment?

b. How many Stage 1 Scour Assessments did you undertake?

12. For the last financial year, 2023/24:

a. How many of your bridges required a Stage 2 Scour Assessment?

b. How many Stage 2 Scour Assessments did you undertake?

13. For the last financial year, 2023/24:

a. How many bridges under your management completely collapsed in 2023/24?

b. How many bridges under your management partially collapsed in 2023/24?

c. How many retaining walls under your management completely collapsed?

d. How many retaining walls under your management partially collapsed?

e. Would you be happy to share the details with members of the UK Bridges Board? Y/N

14. How many reports did you submit to CROSS-UK (Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures)?

15. What was your Bridge Stock Condition Index (BSCI) at the end of 2023/24 (or current if easier)? 

16. What issues with managing your bridge stock causes you most concern? 

17. How many Principal Inspections have not been undertaken as a consequence of being unable to obtain, or cancellation of, a track possession?

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because we don't record this information.

Please see Annex A to this response for a copy of the information requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400442158 - Information released - Annex

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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