Bottom of the league – blackspot had nearly fifth of roads in the worst category

Published on Saturday 11 February 2012 00:00

ARGYLL and Bute had the worst roads in Scotland, with 18.4 per cent of the area’s network listed in the worst category, according to the most recent survey.

The report, which came out last year, showed that nearly 8.5 per cent of Scotland’s non-trunk roads needed repairs within a year – up from 7.1 per cent in 2009.

In addition, almost 30 per cent of such roads showed signs of deterioration.

The survey, by the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation, suggested that 15 per cent of roads in East Renfrewshire and 14.7 per cent in Inverclyde were in the worst category.

Both Midlothian and Clackmannanshire had cut the proportion of their roads in the “red” zone in each of the last two surveys.

East and West Lothian also reduced their figures in the latest survey along with Orkney, which had Scotland’s best roads, with only 3.3 per cent in the urgent repair category.

The details about individual areas were published at the same time as public sector watchdog Audit Scotland said the maintenance backlog for local council roads was reported to be £1.54 billion.

Audit Scotland said roads had worsened since its last report in 2004, with only 63 per cent now in an acceptable condition.

It said 78 per cent of motorways and other trunk roads, which are run by the Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency, had been in an acceptable state last year, compared with 84 per cent in 2006.

Single-carriageway A-roads deteriorated the most, down nine points to 75 per cent.

A total of 66 per cent of other roads, which are run by councils, were “acceptable” last year, down from 70 per cent in 2005. However, the figure was just 58 per cent among the most minor roads.

The report said while road maintenance spending had increased since 2004, high road-construction inflation meant Transport Scotland had spent nearly one-third less and councils 13 per cent less in 2009-10 than five years before.

Audit Scotland said ministers should consider a “national review”, encompassing all roads, “with a view to stimulating service redesign and increasing the pace of examining the potential for shared services”.

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feanor607

Monday, February 13, 2012 at 09:03 AM

I returned to my native Scotland for some touring in 2011. Having travelled in Cuba, and noted the dreadful road conditions, I have to say that many of Scotland's roads are no better and that includes many heavily used roads. If Scotland does become independent then to allow business to compete effectively any Government will have to invest massively in infrastructure. I can only assume that capital projects must be suffering because scarce funds are being allocated to "social" spending.

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samcoldstream

Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 09:58 AM

UK motorists should have a look at the American Automobile Association(Triple-A)website in which it is claimed that US inter-states and State highways are poorly maintained. It gives a State by State cost of making repairs and the eye watering multi-billion dollar total has more zeros than the Glasgow Rangers FC accounts.

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