Transport Scotland total number of miles of cable for wire rope safety barriers: EIR release

Information requested

As of 1st April 2026, how many miles of cable (wire rope safety barriers) barriers are in use on the road network managed by Transport Scotland?

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.

You requested the number of miles of cable (wire rope safety barriers) barriers are in use on the road network managed by Transport Scotland. Transport Scotland has contracts in place with Operating Companies for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network. In addition, some sections of the trunk road network are managed under Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) contracts. Under these arrangements, private sector companies are responsible for managing and maintaining the relevant trunk roads on behalf of Transport Scotland.

The combined total number of miles of cable (wire rope safety barriers) barriers are in use on the road network managed by the Operating Companies and DBFOs Concessionaires at 1 April 2026 is 271.7 miles.

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.