Roads Maintenance Plan

 

The Shetland Roads Maintenance Plan sets out our strategy and policy for maintaining our road network. It was approved by the Council in March 2006.

 

The plan identifies our policy and strategy, it shows how our roads are prioritised, the types and frequencies of inspections that each road section receives and it provides intervention limits to help detemine when defects are actioned. All roads in Shetland are evaluated against a range of criteria in order to establish their relative importance to the network and the community. The combined score from all these factors determines where the particular section sits in the road hierarchy. Roads scoring highly will attract a more frequent inspection regime resulting in a slighly higher standard of maintenance than roads attracting low scores. This is a working document subjected to an annual review. It aims to set a framework of standards that all staff can adhere to in order to ensure consistency across the entire network. The aim of road maintenance is to achieve a balance of expenditure that will ensure the safety, sustainability and serviceability of Shetland's roads.

 

Road defects have to prioritised for treatment taking into account the scale of the defect, the location, the prevailing conditions, the traffic or pedestrian flow in the vicinity and an assessment of the risk posed to traffic and pedestrians. Because of this range of factors it is important not to be too prescriptive about setting priorities as the level or risk from a defect can vary dramatically depending upon its location etc. There has to be an element of judgement based on the risk presented by the observed hazard. However, the attached documents provide guidelines for inspections and intervention limits that engineers, foreman and inspectors can take into account when assessing priorities.