Transport Scotland Kingston Bridge condition and its slip roads: EIR release

Information requested

​​​​​​“It relates to the Kingston bridge and its slip and on/off roads. If it helps to clarify the span of the bridge, as I'm not entirely sure where the Kingston bridge starts and finishes, I'm considering the M8 after it passes under St Vincent Street to be the start of the bridge's north side and the M8 before it intersects with the M74 to the south and including the slip roads onto West Street in the east. However, if you have a clear definition of the start and finish of the bridge and can include the slip roads, I'm happy with that.

- Please share the Bridge Condition Indexes, both critical and average, for the Kingston Bridge and its slip roads for the past five years.
- If possible, please share with accompanying scores on specific components that were part of the assessments.”​​​​​​​

Response

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.

Response to your request

The grid reference points corresponding to our definition of Kingston Bridge are as follows:

• West end: Grid Reference NS 57987 64715
• East end: Grid Reference NS 58001 64983

The M8 trunk road is described as travelling West to East (and vice versa), hence the use of West and East end rather than South/North in the structure names when the direction of the carriageway is described. When North and South is referenced in the structure name this refers to structures North or South of the River Clyde. This hyperlink will take the reader to a map which displays the approximate West and East ends of Kingston Bridge.

Q1. Please share the Bridge Condition Indexes, both critical and average, for the Kingston Bridge and its slip roads for the past five years.

A1. The latest Bridge Condition Indicator (BCI) scores for Kingston slip roads (ramps) are included in the table below as requested. Please note that the BCI scores for Anderston footbridge and the retaining walls in the complex are not included. The BCI scores are not available for the main span of Kingston Bridge and are thus not specified in the table. This is due to the method of inspection and how this is recorded within our inspection software.

Structure Name	Date of Last Inspection	BCI Average Score	BCI Critical Score
M8S 19-19 60 BOTHWELL ST OFF RAMP	July 2025	77.54	70.93
M8S 19-19 70 NORTH ST OFF RAMP	July 2025	80.65	78.47
M8S 19-19 80 NEWTON ST ON RAMP	July 2025	79.87	78.66
M8S 19-19 50 WATERLOO ST ON RAMP	May 2025	75	78.08
M8S 19-19 30 STOBCROSS ON RAMP	Aug 2025	83.28	56.23
M8S 19-19 40 STOBCROSS OFF RAMP	Aug 2025	84.47	77.24
M8 19-19 20 M8 MAIN APP NORTH WB	July 2025	69.67	66.95
M8 19-19 10 M8 MAIN APP NORTH EB	July 2025	78.91	71.08
M8 19-20 50 KINGSTON	2024
M8 20-20 20 M8 MAIN APP SOUTH WB	July 2025	75.97	65.71
M8 20-20 10 M8 MAIN APP SOUTH EB	June 2025	71.21	69.35
M8S 20-20 30 WEST STREET OFF RAMP	April 2025	77.71	71.07
M8S 20-20 40 WEST STREET ON RAMP	April 2025	77.35	71.24

Q2. If possible, please share with accompanying scores on specific components that were part of the assessments.

A2. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have. Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested because Principal Inspections are undertaken in accordance with the “Inspection Manual for Highway Structures” document as stipulated in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) design standard CS 450 Inspection for Highway Structures. This involves dividing each structure into its different structural components per span then defects are assigned to each component. It is then each defect that is assigned a severity and extent score. The combination of the defect scores are used to calculate the Bridge Condition Indicator (BCI) scores. Thus, the BCI scores are not specific to one component of the bridge. It is for this reason that we cannot provide the information requested to this part of the query.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about scores on specific components that were part of the assessments, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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