2013-14 Programme for Carriageway and Footway Maintenance And
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EAST AYRSHIRE COUNCIL CABINET – 6th February 2013 2013/14 PROGRAMME FOR CARRIAGEWAY AND FOOTWAY STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE AND STREET LIGHTING WORKS Report By Depute Chief Executive / Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services 1. PURPOSE OF REPORT 1.1 To seek Cabinet’s approval for the 2013/14 Programme for carriageway and footway structural maintenance and street lighting and to note schemes being considered for future years’ programmes. 1.2 To report to Cabinet on the Condition of the Road Network. 2. BACKGROUND 2.1 At its meeting on 9 March 2011, Cabinet approved revised allocations for the Roads and Transportation Capital Investment Programme. The approved allocations for the next three financial years are as detailed in Table 1 below. Table 1: Capital Investment Budgets 2013/14 – 2015/16 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 3 Year Total Carriageway Structural £2.125m £2.265m £2.405m £6.795m Maintenance Footway Structural £0.500m £0.480m £0.485m £1.465m Maintenance Street Lighting £0.225m £0.250m £0.250m £0.725m Improvement Schemes Total £2.850m £2.995m £3.140m £8.985m 2.2 It was noted that programmes of work would be reviewed and reprioritised and that updated programmes would be brought forward for approval on an annual basis. 2.3 At its meeting on 9 March 2011, Cabinet considered the report on Condition of the Road Network which remitted the Head of Roads and Transportation to report the condition of the road network to Members on an annual basis. 2.4 Elected Members and Community Councils were consulted in the Autumn of 2012, requesting schemes to be considered for inclusion in the following year’s programme. 2.5 The transport infrastructure is one of the most valuable Council assets and is vital to the economic well being of East Ayrshire. It contributes significantly to the local economy and regeneration. In 2012 the entire road asset was valued at £1.6 billion. 2.6 At its meeting on 13th December 2012 Council approved an additional £1.0m in 2013/14 to enhance the road condition. 3. CONDITION OF THE ROAD NETWORK 3.1 The Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey (SRMCS) commissioned by Society of Chief Officers of Transport in Scotland (SCOTS) on behalf of all Local Authorities in Scotland began in 2002. The surveys cover all local authority A roads in both directions every two years, all B and C roads in both directions every four years and a 10% sample of unclassified roads in one direction every year. The results of the survey are used to classify the road network into one of three categories • Green – roads are in a satisfactory condition • Amber – roads requiring further investigation and/or monitoring. • Red – roads where maintenance operations are likely to be required. 3.2 A Road Condition Index (RCI) is derived from two years survey data and includes both the red and amber categories. The RCI has been adopted as the Statutory Performance Indicator for the condition of the local road network and is defined as “the percentage of the road network which should be considered for maintenance treatment”. An increase in the figure indicates deterioration in road condition. 3.3 Table 2 summarises the RCI results from the SRMCS over the last five years and the budget allocated to Carriageway Structural Maintenance. Table 2: Road Condition Index 2007/08 – 2011/13 2007/09 2008/10 2009/11 2010/12 2011/13 Scottish Average 34.2% 36% 37.9% 36.1% 36.2% East Ayrshire 40.5% 40.1% 45.3% 43.2% 40.6% East Ayrshire 24 22 24 24 22 Ranking 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 EAC Carriageway Structural £1.935m £2.093m £3.945m * £3.680m* £2.295m Maintenance Budget * Includes additional funding approved by Council in 2010 and 2011 for frost damage repairs. 3.4 The additional funding for frost damage repairs in 2010 and 2011 has had a beneficial effect on the RCI. The Scheme Ranking System approved by Cabinet at the meeting of 24 March 2010 has allowed the budget to be targeted more effectively and the increased investment, particularly on the A class road network, has contributed to this significant improvement. 3.5 The development of the Road Asset Management Plan has been pivotal in targeting the resources effectively, particularly with the development of the Scheme Ranking System. The following graph indicates how the road condition will change over the coming years if the structural maintenance budget remains as previously approved, without further additional investment. Condition Profile - All Roads 100% 80% 60% 40% Condition 20% 0% 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Year 3.6 The RCI (currently 40.6%) is predicted to improve slightly over the next few years given the proposed level of funding in the current Capital programme (with the additional £1m investment in 2013). However the RCI will deteriorate slightly over the longer term (to 41.48%) without a further increase in funding. It is noticeable that the percentage of road considered to be in ‘red’ condition potentially increases from 8% to 21% over the 20 year period. Driver perception will therefore be that the road condition has deteriorated. 3.7 In 2011 the backlog figure was estimated at £52.24m, with a required budget of £5m per annum to maintain a steady state, as reported to Cabinet on 9th March 2011. SCOTS have agreed to re-run the back-log model in 2013 using the up to date information on road condition, maintenance budgets and treatment costs. 4. PROGRAMME FOR CARRIAGEWAY AND FOOTWAY STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE 4.1 Engineers’ assessment surveys of the A, B, C and U class road networks have been completed, as has a similar exercise on the urban footway network. Using this information, inspection records, comments received from Elected Members and the public from the consultation exercise outlined in 2.4 and the data from the SRMCS, carriageway and footway schemes have been identified and prioritised using the Scheme Ranking Systems for inclusion in the three year Structural Maintenance Programmes. 4.2 The proposed programmes for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 are included in Appendix 1 of this report and have been placed on the Members’ portal. 4.3 At its meeting of 7 March 2012 Cabinet agreed to allocate £15,000 per year from the footway structural maintenance budget for the provision of an Environmental Improvement Programme to provide off-street parking within residential areas with a view to improving access for emergency vehicles and to address problems of over-run areas on grass verges. Details of the proposed programme are included in Appendix 2. 4.4 The proposed value of the 2013/14 Carriageway and Footway programmes (including the Surface Dressing element from the Revenue Budget) are detailed below in Table 3 along with the estimated lengths that will be surfaced. Table 3: Proposed Carriageway and Footway Programme – Costs and Lengths to be Surfaced Total Proposed % of Carriageway / Allocation Length to be Footway Network Surfaced to be Surfaced Carriageway Structural £2,125,000 23 km 1.8% Maintenance (Capital) Additional Funding to £1,000,000 8 km 0.6% Enhance Road Condition* Surface Dressing £295,000 23 km 1.8% (Revenue) Footway Structural £485,000 6.4 km 0.7% Maintenance (Capital) Environmental £15,000 Improvements Total £3,920,000 * £200,000 has been allocated for additional patching following the severe weather of 2012/13 4.3 There are significant lengths of A and B class roads identified for resurfacing over the next year which will improve the strategic network and help encourage regeneration and support the local economy. This should have a positive impact on the Road Condition Index as A class roads are surveyed annually and B class roads are surveyed on a two yearly cycle. 4.4 The estimated costs shown against the individual schemes in the programme are based on the nominal lengths and current market rates. It is proposed that the projects will be brought forward up to the limit of the current allocation and schemes listed to be implemented in future years may be brought forward, should funding allow.. 4.5 The schemes presently listed for future years will be subject to annual review as part of the ongoing process for compiling future programmes and will be prioritised along with other schemes identified throughout the year from inspection reports. 4. PROGRAMME FOR STREET LIGHTING 4.1 There are over 20,000 street lighting columns in East Ayrshire. In 2008/09 46.3% were considered to be over thirty years old, this has now been reduced to 40.6% as a result of the ongoing Capital programme. However as further detailed inspections are undertaken as part of the development of the Road Asset Management Plan it is expected that further older columns may be identified. 4.2 In previous years the budget has allowed for the replacement of between 1% and 2% of the columns which are over 30 years old. 4.3 As a result of street lighting reliability issues over the winter months it has been necessary to reappraise the current 3 year street lighting replacement programme. 4.4 Major power outages have occurred in the Bellfield Area, Netherthird, Cumnock and Glen Avenue Area, Logan where the 5th core cable network has proved unreliable, leading to loss of service for protracted periods. Bellfield had been previously identified in the proposed programme but it is also proposed to bring forward the replacement of the lighting installations at Netherthird, Cumnock and Glen Avenue Logan to address these issues.