Local highway authorities have collected national data on trends in minor road conditions, following the Government’s decision to halt surveys of the unclassified network.
The CSS County Surveyors’ Society) plans to publish the information on 75% of unclassified roads in Surveyor next month, to provide continuity in the 30-year data series that it was feared was lost when the Department for Transport withheld the information for 2007. The DfT pledged to provide SCANNER data on classified roads for three years, after senior highways officers cried foul over ministers’ decision to not include this in the 2007 survey, and questions were asked in the House of Commons.
But the DfT refused to reverse the scrapping of the best value performance indicator for unclassified roads, prompting the CSS to decide to collate these surveys (Surveyor, 23 October 2008). Fears that councils would stop collecting this data if they were no longer required to have proved unfounded.
Sixty per cent of local highway authorities have provided the CSS with the data on 75% of England’s minor road network. The information covers a six-year period, with 25% of each council’s U road network surveyed every year, as was previously required. Matthew Lugg, the chair of the CSS engineering committee, said: ‘We have enough information here to provide a national perspective, which would have been lost if we had not acted. Local authorities recognise that it’s important to be able to track trends.’
The news comes as a report from TRL published this week noting that the majority of 25 authorities questioned ‘were more likely to continue with minor road surveys than to cease carrying them out’.
The report recommends machine surveys on 20,000km rural unclassified carriageways, targeted on stretches where there is cause for concern about condition, and using smaller survey vehicles capable of carrying out both SCANNER and the proposed new Surface Condition Assessment for Minor Roads surveys.
But on the majority of minor roads, particularly in urban areas, TRL suggests that visual inspections should continue in order to provide information on surface condition.
Surveyor editor, Adrian Tatum, commented: ‘Surveyor is pleased to provide a place for this vital information on long-term trends in the condition of the bulk of England’s road network.
‘As this report from TRL underlines, local authorities see the value in having good-quality data that helps them do their jobs.’
The DfT plans to publish a new ‘bulletin on highways asset conditions’ with national figures derived from SCANNER surveys by the end of the year. ‘The exact content of the bulletin is under review,’ according to a spokeswoman.
• Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper Automated Carriageway Surveys. PPR290.
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