Agenda item

The Executive Member for Environment and the Director of Environment and Community Services submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to seek approval/endorsement for additional capital investment to carry out principal and general inspections and repairs on the Council’s bridge and structures assets.

The Council, as a Highway Authority, was responsible for the repair and maintenance of a large number of bridges and structures throughout Middlesbrough including 106 bridges, 65 culverts, 8 subways and underpasses, 3 gantries and 27 retaining walls.

Highways England guidance stated that principal inspections should be carried out every six years and the Council currently had 100 structures that required a principal inspection and a further 98 structures that required a general inspection. In addition to those inspections, critical works were required to 5 bridges and structures and general maintenance required to a further 22 bridges and structures, which needed to be programmed for repairs. The cost estimates to undertake those remediation works were far in excess of the Council’s available annual Highway Maintenance Block Funding budgets.

The total estimated cost, for inspections and repair works already identified, was £4.54m in addition to the £400k already committed.

Future years funding requirements, to complete the inspection programme and carry out repairs identified, were included at Table 1 in the submitted report.

OPTIONS

Not approve the capital investment in the highway infrastructure - That had not been recommended as not carrying out the necessary inspection or repair works on the strategic route network, and the A66 in particular, would have had a major impact on the local network, with little resilience available for alternative routes through the urban city centre of Middlesbrough.  It would have eventually led to severe disruption to the highway network and significant additional cost for additional repair works that may have otherwise been avoided with a programmed maintenance regime in place.

ORDERED

That £2.098m of additional capital funding, for highways infrastructure investment, be approved to enable the immediate inspection and repair works identified to be carried out.

REASONS

The majority of the works required were on structures either on, or over, the Council’s strategic route network. When incidents occurred on the strategic network, requiring works that affected the capacity of the routes such as closures of lanes, or whole sections, then the impact on the network was significant. Completion of the principal and general inspections, and carrying out the necessary repair works already identified, would fulfil the Council’s statutory duty to maintain its highway infrastructure, would have beneficial effects and improve the overall highway network. In the event of a partial failure of any of the identified structures, the best scenario would require weight limits to be enforced, lanes closed and unplanned works to be carried out. In the worst case scenario, as an alternative to planned structural repairs, would be structural failure of one or more of structures with consequential sudden closures and chaotic dispersion of traffic, (both private vehicles and HGVs), through the centre of Middlesbrough. There was no available capacity in the local network to accommodate that.