At a meeting of the Council’s Environment, Development and Infrastructure committee, councillors heard that, despite normal maintenance work in some areas badly affected by the pandemic, more than 50% of the region’s roads network, which covers more than 2,000 kilometres, is within the ‘green’ or ‘good condition’ band, whilst 36% are amber.
This is the first time in the last eight years that the results of the Annual Status and Options Report (ASOR) have reported more than half the area’s roads network as green, which demonstrates the success that roads maintenance teams have been able to achieve despite challenging conditions.
The survey of the roads network takes place annually to provide information about which sections the Council should consider for maintenance.
As well as roads, the ASOR provides details on a range of other infrastructure assets including footways, bridges, street lighting and traffic signals, street furniture and electric vehicle chargers.
Councillor Andrew Kain, Policy Lead for Roads and Transport, said: “Our roads support thousands of journeys every day and are a vital component of the local economy, providing access for leisure, business, education and tourism as well as supporting vital services such as energy supplies, communications and the digital network.
“Thanks to prudent investment and sensible engineering solutions our road network has improved and, while there is no doubt that increasing traffic levels and Scotland’s challenging climate can have a detrimental effect, it is great news for our local communities that our maintenance programme is paying dividends with more than half of our roads in a good state of repair.”