Revealed: cost of bringing crumbling Highland road network up to scratch
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A ROAD survey has found that close to half of all roads in Highland have either badly deteriorated or are in need of closer inspection.
The annual Scottish Road Maintenance Survey of 1,845 miles of road reveals more than 36 per cent of the routes fall in to this category.
In a table listing the best and worst performers across all 32 local authorities Highland ranks number 18, slipping down three notches from 15 last year.
And the report, which is going before members of the council’s community services committee on Thursday also reveals the council currently needs to spend £156 million to bring all roads up to standard.
Graham MacKenzie, Highland Council’s community services chairman, said the results were disappointing and showed that the rate of deterioration was faster than before.
But he said the council was trialling a new method of repairing roads and this was showing some success.
He said: “It’s a disappointing report because the roads are not getting any better and it does appear that they are deteriorating more quickly than the roads in the other authorities but I think that’s because of the sheer volume of roads that we have got here.”
He added: “It’s something that we are aware of which is why over the last year we have put £1.25million into a new fund to adopt a new system which has proved to be 30 per cent more effective over the last financial year.”
The council is now using a new machine called a JetPatcher which sends a blast of tar into the pothole and cuts the amount of shovelling workers normally need to do. The machine is shared with neighbouring authorities. It is also leasing radiant heat equipment for a large scale programme of patching in Inverness and other main towns.
In his report, John MacLennan, senior services support officer, says: “There is a high risk that, at current funding levels. The condition of the Highland road network will continue to deteriorate and resources will need to be directed more and more towards reactive rather than preventative repairs as the proportion of road network in poor condition increases.”
