Contact: Kevin Fuller, ext 7958

1. Summary

1.1 This report outlines the systematic approach currently in place to assess the condition of the road, cycle track and footway network and establish highway maintenance needs and assign priorities of maintenance treatments according to budgetary provisions.

1.2 The report brings Members up to date on the changes required to the condition assessment arrangements in light of the County Council's Best Value review, the implementation of the National United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS) and the recently launched National Code of Practice `Delivering Best Value in Highway Maintenance'.

2. Background

General Highway Inspections and Condition Assessment

2.1 General highway inspections are undertaken routinely on set frequencies (minimum one inspection per annum) to assess the condition of footways, cycle tracks and carriageways, and the need for running repair maintenance works. These include emergency repairs, such as pot-hole repairs, surface patching and small-scale remedial treatments. The inspections also identify sites which may be considered for larger scale planned maintenance work, such as resurfacing, reconstruction, drainage projects, etc.

2.2 Locations identified for larger scale planned works are then submitted for a more detailed condition assessment called `Highway Assessment Maintenance Priorities' (HAMP). All schemes submitted for assessment are rated according to condition and assigned a priority ranking or score, based on the maintenance need. The worse the condition, the higher the rating. In this way schemes in most need of treatment can be identified and included in the planned maintenance programme.

2.3 The planned maintenance programme is then prepared, based on the HAMP assessment rating, for a range of maintenance treatments, such as surface dressing, special maintenance and resurfacing. The ideal treatment will vary according to the nature of the problem and the rating level. Desirable intervention levels have been agreed, which enable maintenance works to be carried out at the optimum treatment time.

2.4 The Local Authority Association Code of Good Practice for Highway Maintenance indicates an ideal intervention rating score from HAMP of 40 for surface dressing, 50 for special maintenance and 50 for resurfacing. Hence, a road, footway or cycle track would have to be in a slightly worse condition to qualify for resurfacing compared with surface dressing.

2.5 In practice however intervention levels are based upon the maintenance funding available. In Hampshire HAMP intervention levels higher than the ideal have been applied to special maintenance and resurfacing. Surface dressing is an important preventative treatment and the intervention level for this has been at the recommended HAMP level of 40. This approach has given a reasonable intervention strategy to help reduce the worst impact of network deterioration.

2.6 In the early 1990s there was a feeling that the maintenance funding levels were just about keeping pace with the rate of deterioration. Between 1992 and 1998 a combination of factors, including reduced funding from the Government and increased traffic flows and loading, have contributed to an increasing rate of deterioration (see attached graph which shows the budget from 1993 to 2002). From 1998 onwards increased County Council funding for highway maintenance and a strategic approach to the problem by the Central Government's 10 year plan to arrest the rate of deterioration and the backlog of maintenance have improved the situation. The top line of the graph, which shows the condition of the road network from 1993, does not reflect the present total maintenance needs. These are presently being assessed using the new UKPMS methods.

2.7 Currently, the total backlog of maintenance to restore the network to the ideal condition has been assessed at £75 million. The cost of achieving the current County Council HAMP intervention points of 40 surface dressing, 60 resurfacing and 80 special maintenance has been assessed at £10 million.

2.8 The costs shown are based on small sample visual inspections. These inspections do not represent the whole network. New national standards are presently being introduced which collect data for the complete network. The changes to the data collected and to the method of assessment may affect the estimated funding required to deal with the maintenance backlog.

3. United Kingdom Pavement Management System

3.1 Hampshire has benefited by developing over 20 years ago a systematic highway assessment system (HAMP) which was a forerunner to and followed the recommendations contained in the Local Authority Association Code of Good Practice for Highway Maintenance 1983.

3.2 Over the last five years however the national focus has been on developing and using a single national systematic network condition assessment method. This computerised system is called the UKPMS and as such will form the basis of all highway condition assessments to calculate the network maintenance needs. Importantly, this new system will also give Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) which are required by the Department for Transport (DfT). The system will become the means by which funding, based on priorities, will be allocated for the principal roads network by the DfT.

3.3 Hampshire introduced the EXOR UKPMS in 2001 and it is being developed and implemented in stages to meet BVPI requirements. UKPMS is based on a visual assessment of condition, which will replace both the HAMP and General Inspection arrangements over the next two years. UKPMS will also include `non visual' assessment techniques, such as Deflectograph (which assesses the structural life of a pavement) and Scrim (which assesses skid resistance of the network), etc.

3.4 One key advantage of UKPMS is that it provides a complete picture of the whole network condition, along with a performance indicator. The existing arrangements give only a sample of the network in a snapshot in time. Therefore, along with the anticipated development and use of automated vehicle based survey techniques (TRACS) utilising UKPMS, a more complete understanding of the maintenance needs and associated treatment strategies may be developed to meet the Government's objectives.

Recommendation

That the report be noted.

7268/KFr