A725 Northbound: maintenance policy, repair history, safety inspections: EIR release

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.


FOI reference: FOI/18/00516
Date received: 13 February 2018
Date responded: 26 March 2018

Information requested

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act relating to a road your authority is responsible for maintaining. Specifically, my query relates to the A725 Northbound, 100 metres prior to Westbound slip road on the 30/03/2016 (your reference from previous correspondence TPC/SRP/2015/0095).

Please can you send me:

1. A copy of your current road maintenance policy relating to that road. Please send me the full policy, but this should include details of the intended frequency of road safety inspections, how these inspections should be conducted and the maximum time between identification of a defect and repairs being carried out.

2. A copy of the road repair history for that road over the past year. Again, please send me the full road repair history, but this should include: - dates of all safety inspections between 30/01/2016 - details of how safety inspections were undertaken (walked or driven, speed of inspection vehicle etc) - details of all carriageway defects identified, with description, date and time - details of how the authority handled these defects, what repairs were undertaken and the time between the identification of each defect and a repair being carried out.

The request was clarified for point number 2:

The dates for the dates of all safety inspections between 30/01/2016 are between 30/01/2016 - 30/03/16. This is for the 12 months prior to 30/03/2016.

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.

1. The M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements contract documents are available on TS website at the following link:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/projects/m8-m73-m74-motorway-improvements/document-library/m8-m73-m74-contract-documentation/

Schedule 4 contains the O&M Works Requirements and provides the requirements relating to safety inspections.

Safety inspections are carried out every 7 days with safety patrols carried out midway between safety inspections. Inspections are carried out from vehicles with defects recorded. Depending on the type of defect and the asset affected there are varying timescales for repair. For an imminent hazard affecting the carriageway temporary repairs are carried out no later than 06:00 hours following identification and permanent repairs are carried out within 28 days.

2. Please find attached a copy of the road repair history for the A725 between 30/01/2016 and 30/03/2016

Dates of all safety inspections between 30/01/2016 - 30/03/2016

1/2/16
8/2/16
15/2/16
22/2/16
29/2/16
7/3/16
14/3/16
21/3/16
28/3/16

Details of how safety inspections were undertaken (walked or driven, speed of inspection vehicle etc).

Safety inspections are carried out from a slow moving vehicle to inspect all that can be seen within the boundary of the O&M works Site, except pedestrian and cycle facilities which are carried out on foot.

Details of all carriageway defects identified, with description, date and time Defects identified on the section of A725 referred to in your request are noted below:

Defect ID Date Raised Status Category Section Location Item Type comment
M8-214041-3782 01/06/2015 13:54:00 Completed Work CATEGORY 1 15045/52 A725 S/B NORTH RD TO DIAMOND Pothole (POTH)
M8-256082-59422 19/11/2015 13:43:00 Completed Work CATEGORY 1 15045/94 A725 N/B NORTH ROAD T/LIGHTS+20MTRS O/S/W/T IN LANE2 Pothole (POTH)

Details of how the authority handled these defects, what repairs were undertaken and the time between the identification of each defect and a repair being carried out.

Permanent patching repairs were carried out on both defects, dates of these repairs are noted below:

Defect Date raised Date repaired Repair Type
M8-214041-3782 01/06/2015 12/06/2015 Permanent Patching Repairs
M8-256082-59422 19/11/2015 12/12/2015 Permanent Patching Repairs

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses

FOI-18-00516 - Road repair history.pdf

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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