Highways inspection policy
| Title | Value |
|---|---|
| Last updated: | 15 October 2019 |
This Policy came into force on 1 April 2017.
In developing a highways inspection policy in line with national good practice, Buckinghamshire County Council has considered the recommendations set out in the Roads Liaison Group's publication 'Well-maintained Highways, Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management', and set out how the provisions of the code will be interpreted and implemented in Buckinghamshire.
In summary, Transport for Buckinghamshire undertakes:
- safety Inspections of the whole highway network
- service Inspections of specific highway features
- ad hoc inspections in response to queries, reports and complaints from the public or following a reported highway incident
Safety inspection frequencies
Frequencies for safety inspections are based upon the Carriageway Maintenance Hierarchy adopted by the County Council, which in itself considers:
- road category
- traffic use, characteristics and trends
- characteristics of adjoining network elements
- wider policy or operational considerations
The following details the safety inspection frequencies which are adopted.
|
Frequency of carriageway safety inspection |
Carriageway category |
|---|---|
|
Monthly |
Strategic Road, Main Distributor Road, Secondary Distributor Road |
|
Quarterly |
Local Link Road |
|
Annually |
Local Access Road |
|
Frequency of footway safety inspection |
Footway category |
|---|---|
|
Monthly |
Primary Walking Route |
|
Quarterly |
Secondary Walking Route and Safer Routes to School |
|
Annually |
Linked Footway, Local Access Footway |
|
Frequency of cycleway safety inspection |
Cycleway category |
|---|---|
|
As per carriageway frequency |
Cycle lane - contiguous with the carriageway |
|
Bi-annually |
Cycle Track, Shared Cycle/Footway – a route for cyclists not contiguous with the public footway or carriageway or a shared cycle/pedestrian path |
|
Annually |
Cycle trails - Leisure routes through open spaces which are the responsibility of the highway authority to maintain |
Streetlights
We carry out night scouts for our streetlights quarterly, covering 14 patrol routes
Bridges and structures
We inspect all our bridges and structures once every two years
Categorisation
Any defects that are discovered are categorised under the following priorities:
|
Category |
Response times |
Priority |
|---|---|---|
|
Cat 2L |
N/A |
Consider repair within future programmes of planned maintenance works |
|
Cat 2M |
28 DAYS |
No temporary repair necessary. Attend and permanently repair within 28 days |
|
Cat 2H |
5 DAY |
Attend within 5 working days and make safe or permanently repair. If repair is temporary then raise additional Cat 2M defect for permanent repair within 28 days |
|
Cat 1 |
2 DAY |
Attend within 2 working days and make safe or permanently repair. If repair is temporary then raise additional Cat 2M defect for permanent repair within 28 days |
|
Emergency |
2 HOUR |
Attend within 2 hours and subsequently make safe or permanently repair. If repair is temporary then raise additional Cat 2M defect for permanent repair within 28 days |
The full Highway Safety Inspection Policy