UK report warns Scotland's roads likely to get worse

The UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers has urged the Scottish government to make long-term funding for roads a higher priority. The ICE’s call comes after publishing its report State of the Nation Scotland 2018: infrastructure investment. In it, the ICE says that the newly formed Scottish Infrastructure Commission must be independent, transparent and be evidence-led in its recommendations to the Scottish government.
November 12, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The UK’s 5180 Institution of Civil Engineers has urged the Scottish government to make long-term funding for roads a higher priority.

The ICE’s call comes after publishing its report State of the Nation Scotland 2018: infrastructure investment. In it, the ICE says that the newly formed Scottish Infrastructure Commission must be independent, transparent and be evidence-led in its recommendations to the Scottish government.

The report warns Scotland's roads will get worse because of a lack of long-term maintenance funding. ICE, which said Scotland's local and trunk roads do not receive long-term funding settlements, pointed to only 63% of local Scottish roads were in an "acceptable" condition.

One of the report’s recommendations is for the Scottish government to consider how replacements for the vehicle excise duty – called the road tax and paid by car owners – and the fuel duty could be used to fund highway maintenance.

The report also notes that in 2017 the Scottish government said it would set up a national investment bank with around €388.3 million for initial capitalisation between 2019-21.

4068 Transport Scotland is responsible for 3,600km of motorways and trunk roads — about 7% of the total network. Local councils are responsible for 52,400km of A, B, C and unclassified roads.

Finance & Funding

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road user charging to pay for road improvements?
    February 20, 2012
    What is the current situation with Russian roads? It is an objective answer to this question that is contained in the official report of the Federal State Statistics Service for 2009. Here it states: "...public roads are of poor quality: 8.4% of roads accounted for groundwater, nearly a third of roads are gravel, rubble or cobblestone.
    Read More
  • BC again eyes Massey Tunnel replacement
    December 21, 2020
    The aging 61-year-old Canadian tunnel is about 30km north of the US state of Washington.
    Read More
  • Alcohol interlocks for vehicles could cut crashes in Europe?
    February 26, 2018
    There have been calls for mandatory alcohol interlocks in vans, lorries and buses across the EU. This follows the publishing of a new report which shows that more than 5000 deaths/year in the EU are still caused by drink-driving. As a result, member States have been asked to increase enforcement and introduce rehabilitation programmes for drink-driving offenders. The devices should be fitted in all new professional vehicles and also retrofitted to cars used by repeat drink-driving offenders, according to
    Read More
  • Yotta’s Horizons and Mayrise create a route map of the world
    September 14, 2016
    Simon Topp, director of international business at software developer Yotta, explained the need for having the best possible plan in place. Highways agencies and departments the world over face a raft of complex and difficult challenges when it comes to managing and maintaining their infrastructure assets. In some countries, where natural disasters or extreme weather events are endemic, good asset management will need to be supplemented by risk and resilience planning. In the US, for example, the Feder
    Read More

Highlighted Content