Upgraded section of road at Dundreggan on A887: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/18/00075
Date received: 11 January 2018
Date responded: 30 January 2018

Information requested

I refer to the recently upgraded section of the road at Dundreggan on the A887 and would appreciate the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

1. When were the works carried out?

2. Who carried out the works?

3. To what specification was the contractor requested to finish the road in terms of the surface friction level?

4. Was this tested on completion?

5. If so, how was the test carried out and what were the assessed readings?

6. Were there any defects/concerns noted on handover with any aspect of the works undertaken including compliance with the necessary specifications and regulations on this stretch of road?

7. Were there any defects/concerns noted on handover with any aspect of the works undertaken including compliance with the necessary specifications and regulations on this stretch of road specifically in relation to the camber and water shedding?

8. Are records kept of specific reported road traffic accidents on this stretch of road?

9. If so, how many reported road traffic accidents have occurred on this stretch of road this winter (2017) compared to 2016 and 2015?

10. How and by whom are these accidents reported to you?

11. Finally, please provide details on whether this stretch of road was gritted on 30 Dec 2017. If it was, at what time/s was this carried out?

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.

I have numbered our response for ease of reference.

1. Surfacing works were completed on 12 September 2017.

2. BEAR Scotland was the principal designer and principal contractor. Breedon was the surfacing contractor.

3. The pavement was designed and constructed in accordance with Interim Advice Note 156/16 Rev 1, Revision of Aggregate Specification for Pavement Surfacing as per the Standards of Highways Design Manual.

4. Some parts of the road were tested but others were not due to rain.

5. The test was carried out in accordance with BS594987:2015 CI8.2 and BS EN 13036-1 as per the Standards of Highways Design Manual. Copies of the results are attached at Annex A. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

6. There were no defects/concerns noted on handover.

7. There were no defects/concerns noted on handover.

8 and 9. Transport Scotland do keep records of road traffic accidents, however there is currently no report of any accident on 30 December 2017 on our system. Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:

• Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland.

• Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).

• Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network.

• The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. E.g. we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

• Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.

10. Police Scotland inform Transport Scotland of any personal injury accidents on the Trunk Road Network.

11. Gritting took place on 30 December 2017 at 03.00 to 04:35 and 15.00 to 16.45.

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FOI-18-00075 - Annex A - related documents.pdf

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