Roads Reconstruction Capital Programme
Argyll and Bute Council · 2 March 2023
Back to Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee — 2 March 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL ENVIRONMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES 2 MARCH 2023 ROADS CAPITAL RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME 2023/24 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The Roads Reconstruction Programme has been structured in line with the Roads Asset Management and Maintenance Strategy. The focus has been to arrest the rate of decline and provide an overall improvement in condition as has been demonstrated in the Annual Status and Options Report. In previous years this has been achieved through the delivery of a mix of carriageway resurfacing, edge strengthening, patching/surface dressing and in-situ road surface recycling. These treatments have been designed to seal the road to stop the ingress of water, improve ride quality and reduce the amount of reactive repairs. This has resulted in an overall improvement in road condition. Without this investment and works there would have been a significant deterioration in condition and a detriment to the travelling public, economic opportunity and tourism. 1.2 Attached to this report is a draft programme for roads reconstruction schemes for 2023/24. This programme has been designed using the Road Condition Index (RCI) which is produced by the national road condition survey data. This survey information is used by officers to determine a programme. In addition to the RCI data, information such as road traffic collisions, known development, activities such as timber harvesting and skid condition (of the carriageways surface) which is measured by a separate survey are also considered together with information brought forward from Elected Members, community groups and stakeholders. This information is considered at officer level when appropriate engineering judgement is also applied to ensure that maximum benefit can be derived from the available investment. 1.3 As per previous years any post winter deterioration may result in some adjustment to the programme to ensure that the best rates of return in terms of whole life costs can be achieved. 1.4 It is recommended that the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee:
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i. Endorses the proposed programme of capital works for 2023/24 ii. Agrees that details of each area committee’s programme will be forwarded on to individual Elected Members iii. Notes that following the budget decision on 23 February 2023, a programme of footway works will be presented to a future meeting of the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL ENVIRONMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES 2 MARCH 2023 ROADS CAPITAL RECONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME 2023/24 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 This report provides details of the proposed roads reconstruction programme for 2023/24. The programme is based on the 2023/24 allocation of a total of £8.0M, which includes £754k brought forward from 2022/23. 2.2 The additional funding allocated at the Council meeting on 23 February 2023 means that there is now a £8M programme for both this financial year and for 2024/25. This level of investment is welcomed and enables substantial programmes of works to be delivered across the road network focusing on arresting deterioration and where possible improving road condition. 3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 It is recommended that the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee: i. Endorses the proposed programme of capital works for 2023/24 ii. Agrees that details of each area committee’s programme will be forwarded on to individual Elected Members iii. Notes that following the budget decision on 23 February 2023, a programme of footway works will be presented to a future meeting of the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee. 4.0 DETAIL 4.1 The focus of the roads reconstruction programme has been to recover the network through the delivery of a mix of carriageway resurfacing schemes, patching/surface dressing and in-situ road surface recycling, which follow the principles set out within the Roads Asset Management Plan. 4.2 This Council has approximately £122M of backlog maintenance in the road network. This means that over £122M would need to be invested to bring the road network up to an A1 standard. Most councils are in a very similar position. Clearly in the current financial time we are not going to see the level of
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investment required to bring the road network up to an A1 condition. However, over the last decade there has been a carefully applied strategy of delivering revenue and capital funding collectively and delivering a series of works designed to minimise reactive work, carry out right first time repairs wherever possible and to deliver surfacing techniques and specifications which maximizes the amount of repairs and resurfacing which is delivered. As with almost all council services there is insufficient funding available to treat all the sections of road that we’d like to do, the focus being on treating sections where we can maximise the financial return and in so doing reduce the amount of reactive repairs carried out. The available funding means that almost all roads authorities, including Argyll and Bute are unable to treat every section of road they would like to do. However, the investment levels that the Council has made over a number of years have made a positive impact on the council’s road condition. This has been detailed in the Road Condition Index reported separately to this meeting. 4.3 In previous years, the proposed schemes have been selected using the Councils Roads Asset database WDM-PMS and using the information collected from the SCANNER Survey carried out in summer months. In-line with recommendations within the Annual Status and Options Report, the programme is not necessarily concentrated on all the red roads but instead has been aligned to focus on a combination of red and amber roads to arrest deterioration. This effectively provides a stitch in time approach and ensures that we get the best rate of return from the investment available. Red roads are roads requiring attention currently, amber roads are roads which will require attention in the not too distant future and green roads are roads which require no attention. By progressing schemes which will provide the best rate of return, taking consideration of the survey results and associated data, the Council is able to deliver a programme of schemes which maximises the benefits to the travelling public from the available investment. 4.4 Surface dressing schemes are selected on the basis that, either the skid resistance of the road surface is poor, or the road surface requires sealing before it fails. There is also a weighting / ranking applied that aligns with a routes classification and hierarchy together with the Road Condition Index. 4.5 As in previous years, the roads reconstruction programme will be delivered by a mixed economy model with the Councils in-house team delivering carriageway reconstruction and patching works. The surface dressing element of the programme will be delivered by an external contractor. This enables the maximum surface area to be covered which will help to seal carriageway cracks, prevent the ingress of water and reduce the amount of reactive maintenance for potholes. 4.6 The table below details the total of the 2023/24 original allocation and the increased allocation following the 23 February Budget meeting. The table also includes funding which has slipped from 2022/23. The capital budget allocation for 2023/24 has been split in line with the pre-agreed percentage formula which is based on road area and population. The two schemes being carried forward
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are Breadalbane Street Tobermory, due to land ownership and Japanese knotweed issues, and the landslip at Claonaig B8001 where there are ongoing complex design works. 4.7 In 2022/23 there was also a grant from the Strategic Timber Transport Scheme (STTS) totalling some £1M. This funding was used to match fund existing schemes on the council network where timber extraction was programmed to be carried out. It is officers’ intention to make further bids to the STTS for 2023/24 which, if successful, will provide additional investment for the road network. 4.8 The capital programme presented is based on carriageway condition late autumn/early winter. With the effect of winter this programme may need to be adjusted to ensure that any investment takes into consideration any winter deterioration. 4.9 The programme for each of the administrative areas will be forwarded to Area Committee Members and updates to Area Committees as the programme progresses. The programme will also be available on the council web site with key scheme status and dates. Footway Reconstruction 4.10 At the budget meeting held on 23 February council allocated £750k for footway reconstruction works. It is proposed that an area based programme is developed and will be presented to a future meeting of the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee. 5.0 CONCLUSION 5.1 This report provides details of the proposed roads reconstruction programme for 2023/24. Area Committee Area Total Brought forward from 2022/23 £754,000 OLI (35%) £2,536,100 MAKI (31%) £2,246,260 B&C (20%) £1,449,200 H&L (14%) £1,014,440 Total £8,000,000
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6.0 IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy - works assessed and carried out under the current Roads Asset Management Plan. 6.2 Financial - programme will be based on capital allocation for year 2023/24. 6.3 Legal – None known. 6.4 HR - reconstruction works delivered by a combination of in-house roads operations team and sub-contractors. 6.5 Fairer Scotland Duty: None known. 6.5.1 Equalities - protected characteristics – None known. 6.5.2 Socio-economic Duty – None known. 6.5.3 Islands – None known. 6.6 Climate Change – due regard will be given to climate change with a view to minimising any climate change impact and these will be considered as and when they arise. 6.7 Risk - completed works will reduce requirement to repair roads and will arrest the carriageway/footway deterioration. 6.8 Customer Service - overall improvement in road surfaces and the quality of driven journeys. Executive Director with responsibility for Roads and Infrastructure: Kirsty Flanagan Head of Roads and Infrastructure: Jim Smith Policy Lead for Roads and Transportation Councillor Andrew Kain February 2023 For further information contact: Jim Smith, Head of Roads and Infrastructure Service Hugh O’Neill, Network and Standards Manager/Tom Murphy, Operations Manager APPENDICES Appendix 1 – MAKI Proposed Roads Reconstruction Programme 2023/24 Appendix 2 – OLI Proposed Roads Reconstruction Programme 2023/24
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Appendix 3 – B&C Proposed Roads Reconstruction Programme 2023/24 Appendix 4 – H&L Proposed Roads Reconstruction Programme 2023/24