HTM/12/15 Cabinet 14 March 2012 Highway Structural Maintenance (HSM) and Bridge Assessment and Strengthening (BAS): Progress on 2011/12 Schemes and 2012/13 Programmes Report of the Head of Highways and Traffic Management Please note that the following recommendations are subject to consideration and determination by the Cabinet (and confirmation under the provisions of the Council’s Constitution) before taking effect. Recommendations: It is recommended that: (a) progress on 2011/12 schemes detailed in Appendices I and II to this report be noted; (b) the strategy for delivery of the 2012/13 HSM/BAS programmes as described in this report and set out in Appendices III and IV be approved; (c) detailed allocation of the available budget to schemes be determined by the Head of Highways and Traffic Management on the basis of priorities identified from technical surveys and inspections, and within the limits of the approved budget; (d) authority to amend the programme to maximise the impact of the programme be delegated to the Head of Highways and Traffic Management, within the agreed policy guidelines subject to the approval of the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation for any budget changes to individual schemes exceeding £25,000. 1. Summary This report covers the Capital Programme for Highway Structural Maintenance (HSM) and Bridge Assessment and Strengthening (BAS), giving a progress report for 2011/12 and outlining the programme for 2012/13. This is the second year of a four year grant for Local Transport Plan maintenance block which provides known funding allowing medium term planning, albeit at a level insufficient to arrest annual asset depreciation. 2. Background A well maintained highway network is an essential requirement for the successful delivery of Devon County Council’s Strategic Plan 2011-2015, in particular the pledge to maintain 96% of A and B roads in good condition. The ability to efficiently transport people and goods around the County underpins Devon’s economy and has a direct impact on the quality of our environment. Targeting and carrying out this maintenance effectively and efficiently, whilst integrating policies for freight, public transport, walking and cycling, will enable the County Council to demonstrate that it applies the principles of good asset management to all its highway and transport assets that are needed to meet the objectives of the Devon Local Transport Plan (DLTP). The results of the 2011 National Highways and Transport (NHT) Public Satisfaction Survey reflect public perception of performance, importance and desire for various activities to be funded. Analysis shows that the condition of the highway network and the speed and quality of repairs are important to the public (see Table 1). Q3 (Importance) – Top 3 Q4 (Budget For Improvement) – Top 3 Aspect of Service % of Votes Aspect of Service % of Votes The Condition of Roads 21.90 The Condition of Roads 26.49 Safety on Roads 16.99 Pavements & Roads 14.54 Pavements & Footpaths 16.25 Traffic & Congestion levels 13.28 Table 1. What the public voted for The last three winters (2008/09 – 2010/11) have been more severe in terms of adverse weather events than any in the last 30 years. The effects are felt not just in the cost of dealing with the events as they arise in their immediate aftermath but also in serious ongoing attrition of the surface and structure of the County’s highways. 3. Asset Management As the local highway authority, Devon has the duty to maintain a road network of 12,850 kilometres comprising: • 970km principal (A) roads • 660km non-principal (B) roads • 4510km non-principal (C) roads • 6710km unclassified roads. There are basically three types of maintenance works undertaken: (a) Reactive repairs such as pot-hole filling, dealing with flooding, overhanging vegetation and the like, which, if neglected, would pose a potential danger to roads users. (b) Routine maintenance such as gully emptying, grass mowing, cleaning and clearing of drainage pipes, ducts and channels and the like, mostly carried out to a defined frequency. (c) Planned, programmed or structural maintenance such as resurfacing, reconstruction, surface treatments, which is aimed at keeping roads structurally sound and reducing long term maintenance costs. This work is largely funded from this budget. It is the third type of work that is necessary to preserve the value of the Council’s highway assets and it is this type of work that is covered by this report. Neglect of revenue funded reactive and routine maintenance, however, will reduce the service life of the assets and therefore tend to reduce asset value in time, which is why these aspects of the service must not be overlooked in revenue budget setting exercises. Revenue funding is covered in a separate report to this Committee (HTM/12/16). In 2010 the Department for Transport made an additional £3.6m grant for roads where winter damage was evident. A further £9.3m was made available in 2011 for this purpose. Although this grant is not available in 2012/13, the additional £5 million in the revenue budget for work on C class and other minor roads, is a welcome addition to the programme. 4. Trends in Condition Machine based (“SCANNER”) condition surveys indicate that minor C class and unclassified roads, (which together comprise 87% of Devon’s road length), are still deteriorating. The figures 1 to 3 attached show the trend over the last few years for the proportions of each part of the network that are green, (showing only minor deterioration), red (that should be considered for maintenance works immediately) and amber (indicating stages of deterioration in between). There is not as much data for unclassified roads but preliminary analysis shows a similar picture for these roads as for C roads. Main (A and B) roads have been kept in a relatively good condition, in accordance with the Council’s Strategic Plan, but this has been at the cost of the more minor roads in the network. Figures 1 and 2 show the trend for this part of the network. The C and unclassified roads have far less percentage green and far more percentage red than A and B roads. They are of weaker construction and therefore will be far more susceptible to potholes over the coming months and years. A key issue for road users has been the abnormally large number of potholes that have appeared throughout the network, largely caused by water penetration and freeze/thaw cycles. The Council repaired nearly 180,000 potholes in 2010, an unprecedented number. We repaired nearly 120,000 in 2011. Therefore the upward trend appears to have been reversed, by doing permanent repairs to the most susceptible roads using the DfT’s winter damage money, the HSM budget and the Councils’ own resources, but a significant challenge remains. It is clear that the general condition of a large part of the highway network is such that it is vulnerable to the formation of potholes and will remain so unless sufficient money is invested to repair the damage permanently and then keep pace with normal wear and tear and deterioration. The National Highways and Transport public satisfaction survey results have shown that Devon compares well with other authorities and is held in comparatively high regard by our road users in key areas, but this position cannot be sustained unless budgets are sufficient to hold deterioration of the network in check. The condition of road surfaces is an area of low public satisfaction and obviously the number of potholes will have had a bearing on this. The Cumbrian floods of 2009 alerted all local authorities to the strategic importance of highway bridges and structures, their contribution to maintaining communities, and their potential vulnerability when subject to extreme conditions. This has highlighted the need to ensure that limited budgets are focused on key areas, through effective asset management. Significant progress has been made in gathering data as part of the Transport Asset Management Plan, enabling prioritisation of project work on structures to be identified in most areas. As increasing amount of data has now been gathered relating to the condition of the County’s highways structures – both bridges and more recently retaining walls. The condition of these structures is determined in accordance with national guidelines for inspection and assessment resulting in the calculation of an overall Structure Stock Condition Performance Indicator (SSCPI). The current condition of highway structures based on information collected to date is set out in Table 2 below. Condition SSCPI category Poor Fair Good Excellent SSCPI range 40 to 64 65 to 84 85 to 94 94 to 100 Average score of Bridges stock 93 Average score of Retaining Walls stock 70 Table 2 – Summary of Condition of Bridges and Structures 5. Strategy and Analysis Devon’s highway and bridge network represents the largest capital asset managed by the Council. The asset has been valued at £10.2 billion (Gross Replacement Cost) under newly published CIPFA guidance. This includes all highway assets such as footways, bridges and street lighting. Carriageways (road surfaces and the underlying construction layers) form by far the greatest part of Devon’s highway assets by value. The value of carriageways alone is £8.5 billion, with a current total depreciation on this figure of £515 million, which is in line with previous calculations for the value of the backlog in road maintenance work. A certain level of backlog is to be expected and can be managed, but it is important that it is not allowed to increase each year. To stop this happening and keep the roads in their current overall condition would cost an average of approximately £57 million each year, as calculated by using models developed by our advisers, WDM Ltd.