More likely underfunded. Middlesbrough council are at the point of having to prioritise what they work on in this manner.DB617 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:11 There seems to be a massive lack of expertise in Welsh Council highways officers compared to the Trunk ones. Like there's a brain drain from local authorities. I have often lamented the state of the Cardiff A470 and surrounding area compared to the (trunk) Taff Valley road. Similarly I have complained about the Cardiff Airport road (A48-A4226) not being trunked, as the Council mismanagement of the upgrades and ongoing utility works there have almost certainly contributed to the historic losses made by the ('trunked') airport, plus the abject misery for thousands of commuters for two years and counting. Any trunk authority would look at the West Barry roundabout and say "that needs work" while all the Vale Council has done is changed the left hand entry lanes to the roundabout to be left only, resulting in huge queues in the mornings as the principal flows (ahead and right) now squash into one lane. All to make their new road look more accessible. Well, I can't access it, because I'm a mile back, queueing with all the drivers that used to have two lanes onto the roundabout and now have one. Congratulations, another excellent scheme.
I know in my area that the highways coordinator is double-jobbing, also being responsible for neighbourhood services which I believe includes refuse collection, another department in extreme turmoil here. I wonder whether they are overworked, or underqualified to be highway authority heads.
Trunk Roads - HE maintain them - not our problem
Then in order of priority
1) Safety issues such as collapsed surface , sinkholes etc. There are still old mines that show up from time to time
2) Primary Roads such as the A172, non trunk sections of the A174, A66 , A171 etc
3) Primary Distributor Roads such as Stainton Way
4) Lesser A Roads and B Roads
5) Unclassified roads
Footpaths and cycleways are reviewed using the same system. A safety issue on one of them will also be priority 1
Central government aid for local road maintenace was radically reduced between 2005 and 2018. Since then the TVCA has managed to get some extra funding for regionally important non trunk roads linking the boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and Middlesbrough etc. Improvements to the non trunk A66 from Middlesbrough to Teessport is one example.
There is no available budget for new road development, indeed they have to prioritise repair and maintenance as follows.
Priority 1 - Safety related
1A) - those that require a 2 hour response because of their immediate hazard
1B) - those that require a 24 hour response because they represent an
imminent hazard.
Some defects are potentially so dangerous that immediate action is required. These
are defects which due to their nature and location represent a very serious risk to the
public such as exposed electrical equipment, collapsed or missing covers or gratings
in carriageways or footways, all of which must not be left unattended unless and until
adequate barriers, warning signs or cones have been put out.
Priority 2
All defects identified in safety inspections which are not categorised as Category 1 are
automatically classified as Category 2. The commentary in 5.6 above is also clearly
applicable to defects classed as Category 2.
Response times for remedial action are specified in 5.2 above, and for Category 2
defects are as follows:
Priority 2H - make safe or repair within 5 working days
Priority 2M - repair within 28 days
Priority 2L - repair during next available programme, schedule a more detailed
inspection or review condition at next inspection.
Minimising long term costs has been a high priority and in some cases produces solutions that while practical are downright ugly. One example is the replacement of paving slabs on footways with tarmac which requires less maintenance.
The network for which the council is responsible is a follows
326 miles of highway
721 miles of footways
22,000 streetlights
215 bridges and other highway structures
135 traffic signal-controlled junctions or crossings
How do I know all this ?
Well my local councillor, who is an independent got stuck with the responsibility for it when the ruling Labour group was kicked out in the 2019 local elections. Another new independent councillor is Jim Platt who was a rather a good footballer in his day playing in goal for Northern Ireland , Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Ballymena.
He now chairs the Adult Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel and
Children and Young People's Learning Scrutiny Panel
Interesting times. BTW increases in the local rates were capped by central government in 2012, any increase above 3% has to be supported by a local referendum. The cost of holding one generally equals or exceeds the amount which would be raised so nationally only one has ever happened and that was defeated.