Timely, effective and efficient maintenance of our transport assets (roads, bridges, pavements, street lights, signs and so on) is an essential part of our plan to improve transport in the county.

Over the past few years we have been producing a complete picture of the condition of roads and pavements. Using this information, we can predict the future condition of our assets and test different condition/spending scenarios to produce a prioritised forward programme of structural maintenance schemes.

One of the major benefits of having this programme is that we will be able to co-ordinate better between maintenance and the other schemes in our spending plan like road safety or bus priority improvements. Where maintenance works are needed on roads where other improvements are planned, we will more easily be able to ensure that these works are carried out at the same time. This will reduce the congestion and delays caused by road works, as well as potentially reducing construction costs significantly.

As well as being important in its own right to protect the value of the county’s transport assets, maintenance also brings wider benefits. For example, good road surface condition can help prevent accidents, particularly collisions caused by skidding in the wet, and well maintained street lighting will help reduce night time accidents and crime.