Maintenance records for the M73 southbound: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
FOI reference: FOI/18/00435
Date received: 9 February 2018
Date responded: 7 March 2018
Information requested
We request copy of the maintenance records for the M73 southbound, just beyond junction 2. We also request copy of any reports/complaints. Please also confirm how often the condition of the road is/should be checked. Records should be for the period 6 months prior to the 06/02/2017 and the period of 1 month after.
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.
Please refer to Annex A which is a copy of the maintenance records for the M73 southbound for the time periods requested.
Safety inspections are undertaken once a week and a safety patrol was undertaken once a week. On the M73 safety inspections are carried out Tuesday with a patrol on Friday. This part of the road is also covered by Trunk Road Incident Support Service patrols.
Safety inspections are be carried out at frequencies not exceeding seven days. Slip roads and link roads at interchanges are inspected at the same frequency as the associated main carriageway of the trunk road. The inspection vehicle will travel around 40 mph.
Where possible safety inspections will be carried out during off-peak traffic periods to minimise traffic disruption.
Safety inspections will be carried out by a team of two. All inspection and safety patrol personnel will be sufficiently responsible and competent for the task, will have received suitable training and be fully conversant with inspection procedures and health and safety requirements prior to undertaking any such inspections Detailed inspections are also undertaken on each element of the trunk road asset.These are walked inspections and are typically undertaken on an annual basis (although this can change depending on the particular asset being inspected). The definition of a Category 1 & Category 2 defect can be found from Schedule 1, Part 1 of the 4th Generation Term Contract for management and maintenance of the Scottish Trunk Road Network by using the following web link: http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/maintenance/operating-companies:
We have no record of any complaints for this location/ time period.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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