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1. Introduction
1.1 This chapter provides information about public road lengths by local authority, class, type and speed limit. There are also statistics on the condition of road surfaces (referred to as "pavements" by engineers) and the amount of new roads which have been constructed, re-surfaced, strengthened or surface dressed.
1.2 Tables 5.3 and 5.4 have been expanded to include estimates of the equivalent trunk road lane lengths that were constructed, re-surfaced, etc.
2. Main Points
2.1 There were over 53,000 kilometres of public road in Scotland at 1 April 1998. The trunk road network accounted for 7% of the total. Other (non-trunk) A roads represented 14% of the total. Minor roads (B and C roads, and unclassified roads) accounted for the remaining 80% of roads. (Table 5.1)
2.2 Over a quarter of the total trunk road network, and about one-seventh of the Scottish road network, is within the area of the Highland Council. Around 10% of the Scottish road network is within the Aberdeenshire Council area and a further 8% is within the Dumfries and Galloway Council area. (Table 5.2)
2.3 Trunk road area constructed/opened in 1997-98 was the lowest in 10 years and was less than a third of that for the previous year (which was unusually high). There were also decreases, over the previous year, in the amounts of trunk road strengthened, and surface dressed in 1997-98 (18% and 14% respectively). (Table 5.3)
2.4 All of the new trunk road constructed in 1997-98 was in the Forth and Tay areas. (Table 5.4)
3. Notes and Definitions
3.1 The trunk road network is the responsibility of The Scottish Executive, and comprises all motorways and some of the main A roads (local councils are responsible for non-trunk roads). The Government’s view, when it reviewed the trunk road network in 1994, was that the trunk road network should:-
a. provide the road user with a coherent and continuous system of routes which serve destinations of importance to industry, commerce, agriculture and tourism;
b. define nationally important routes which will be developed in line with strategic national transport demands; and
c. ensure that those roads which are of predominately local importance are managed locally.
3.2 On 1st April 1996, local government was reorganised, and the 32 present Councils replaced the former Regions, Districts and Island Areas. At the same time, changes were made to the trunk road network: some former non-trunk roads became trunk roads, and some former trunk roads ceased to be trunk roads.
3.3 Major roads: Motorways and A roads.
3.4 Operating Units: for the purpose of maintenance, the trunk road network is sub-divided into 8 operating units. On the 3 Premium Units, covering Tay, Forth and Clyde, and comprising mainly the motorways and major inter-urban dual carriageway routes, Operating Companies provide a complete management and maintenance service. On the 5 All Purpose Units covering the North West, North East, Central, South East and South West and comprising primarily rural single carriageway routes, Management Agents are appointed to undertake management and professional services, and to co-ordinate the work of the local Councils who provide the front-line routine and winter maintenance service. Details of the areas covered by these Units can be found in the Annex (page 151).
3.5 Areas of trunk road constructed, resurfaced, etc: in tables 5.3 and 5.4 the area of road resurfaced, strengthened, etc are mainly expressed as ‘million square metres’. The reason for this is that the data represents the aggregate value of the area of work undertaken on the whole network including single carriageway roads, three or more lane single carriageways, dual two lane roads and dual three or more lane roads including motorways. It also includes work done on slip roads and junction areas. In addition, work is not always undertaken on the whole carriageway width at specific sites. As a result, it is not possible to say what the total lengths of trunk road resurfaced etc were for each year. However, by assuming a standard lane width of 3.5 metres, an equivalent road lane length has been estimated, in order to provide figures which, to the user of this publication, may be a more comprehensible overall measure of the amount of work done.
4. Sources
4.1 Information on road lengths is obtained from annual returns made to The Scottish Executive by Councils and by the trunk road management operators. These returns provide the total lengths of roads for which the Council or Management Operator is responsible, categorised in a number of ways (e.g. by class of road, by type of road and by speed limit). Because these returns provide only the total lengths of such roads (they do not provide any information about any individual roads) they can contain errors which cannot be detected, and, even in cases where an error is suspected, it may not be possible to determine how the figures should be corrected. There are a few cases of apparently unusual changes in the figures between one year and the next, which may be due to errors in the statistical returns (for example, it appears that the figures for dual carriageways may have been affected by the double-counting of some lengths of dual carriageway in some years).
4.2 The physical condition of Motorways and trunk roads is monitored by annual condition surveys which are undertaken for the Scottish Executive by specialist contractors. The surveys are designed to provide information about the structural, surface and safety condition of the road surface (which are referred to as "pavements" by the engineers). The data from the surveys is processed annually in a Pavement Management system so as to identify objectively performance and to target the available funds on those areas of greatest need.
5. Further Information
5.1 Further information on GB road network statistics can be found in the annual Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions’ publications "Road Lengths in Great Britain" and "Transport Statistics Great Britain".
5.2 For further information on road lengths in Scotland contact Mr Stuart Hay of The Scottish Executive Network Management and Maintenance Division (tel: 0131 244 0458).
5.3 For further information on maintenance and the condition of Scotland’s trunk road network contact Mr Arthur Prady of The Scottish Executive Network Management and Maintenance Division (tel: 0131 244 0460).
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