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Transport asset management

A highway authority is an organisation that is responsible for the management of public highways. This is how we manage them.

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What is a Transport Asset Management Plan?

A Transport Asset Management Plan (TAMP) is a document that helps inform investment decisions to help maintain our transport network.

Our TAMP was updated in 2020 to reflect the recommendations in guidance published by the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme and the ‘Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice’ published by the UK Roads Liaison Group.

The Plan is particularly important because our current funding levels are not enough to keep all our transport assets in ‘as new’ condition. Transport assets include carriageways, footways and cycleways, highway structures (such as bridges), street lighting, street furniture (such as traffic signs) and highway land.

The TAMP sets out what assets we have, what condition they’re in, and what we are likely to need in the future. This allows us to direct our limited funds effectively by applying the principle of ‘right maintenance treatment at the right time’ to minimise whole life costs.

Our current TAMP is available to view below:

East Riding Transport Asset Management Plan 2019-2029 (pdf 16.6mb)

East Riding TAMP - Appendix A - Data Management Strategy (pdf 495kb)

East Riding TAMP - Appendix B - Network Resilience Plan (pdf 5.4mb)

East Riding TAMP - Appendix C - Communications Plan (pdf 836kb)

East Riding TAMP - Appendix D - Risk Assessments (pdf 483kb)

The following documents explain how we set out the strategic vision for East Riding of Yorkshire and how the highway infrastructure can be created, managed and maintained to provide maximum benefit to the people who live, work and visit the East Riding:

Highway Asset Management Strategy Summary (pdf 145kb)

Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Strategy 2018 (pdf 1.2mb)

Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Policy (pdf 75kb)

What is a highway?

A highway is any area over which the public have a right to pass and repass. A highway can, therefore include roads, footpaths, bridleways and byways open to all traffic (BOATs). More information can be found on our public rights of way page.

Who is the Highway Authority and what are they responsible for?

A highway authority is an organisation that is responsible for the management of public highways. This role can be held by a number of different groups.

In the East Riding, the council is responsible for managing local roads. National Highways is responsible for managing motorways and trunk roads – the M62, M18, the A63 and part of the A1033:

National Highways website (external website)

The council, as a highway authority, has to ensure that the public has safe passage along the highway and that the highway is not dangerous for traffic.

Which streets are the highway authority responsible for?

Every highway authority has to keep a correct and up-to-date a record of highways maintainable at public expense which may be inspected by the public. This is referred to as the list of streets.

What does the council maintain in its role as a highway authority?

As the local highway authority, the council maintains a large network of assets to support the public’s highway rights and enable over 26 million journeys a year. These assets include:

  • 3,400km (2,100 miles) of carriageway

  • 1,900km (1,170 miles) of footways

  • 721 bridges and structures

  • 39,000 street lights

  • 58,000 traffic signs.

The value of all the council’s highway assets is over £3bn, however, there are a number of assets on the highway that the council does not maintain. These include private bridges, some bus shelters and street lights installed by residents or private businesses.

Does the council own the land beneath the highway?

In many cases, the council, as the highway authority, does not own the land beneath the highway. Only in special circumstances, such as the construction of a significant length of new road, does the authority purchase the land that a highway runs over.

It is normally assumed that the owner of land directly next to a road is also the owner of the adjoining section of the road up to the middle line. This is described in the Land Registry’s guidance:

GOV.UK - Land Registry plans: boundaries (external website)

What is the council’s long-term strategy for highways?

Our long-term strategy for highways is set out in our Transport Asset Management Plan (TAMP), which was developed as part of the Local Transport Plan and adopted in April 2015. The TAMP is Appendix B of the Local Transport Plan strategy.

Investment in maintaining our roads is directed to where it will make the most significant impact in terms of achieving the council’s corporate priorities and our Local Transport Plan objectives. This means ensuring that the strategic routes are maintained in good condition, offering an alternative to the car for short journeys and minimising the use of energy and resources.

Current funding is not enough to maintain the whole network at the appropriate level and the plan for unclassified routes has become one of ‘managed deterioration’. This has been made worse by recent bad weather such as flooding and cold winters.

What funding is available to maintain the roads, and what is it spent on?

The authority receives a capital grant for highway maintenance from the Department for Transport (DfT) each year. This funding is provided for the replacement of existing highway assets, such the replacement of a road when it reaches the end of its life.

We also receive revenue funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). This funding is used for more reactive measures (such as pothole repairs), routine maintenance and other highway duties.

A breakdown of typical spend on highways capital and revenue funding each year:

Asset Type Capital Revenue
Carriageways £10,546,000 £3,496,000
Footways £1,393,000 £1,207,000
Structures £1,330,000 £575,000
Street Lighting £875,000 £1,770,000
Street Furniture £100,000 £250,000
Traffic Management £85,000 £185,000
Land £994,000
Winter Maintenance £2,120,000
Total £14,329,000 £10,597,000

To boost our existing grant funding we submitted a joint bid with Hull City Council to the Hull and East Yorkshire (formerly Humber) Local Enterprise Partnership Resilience Programme Getting Building Fund for funding to carry out additional highway maintenance improvement schemes on our 'A' road network. In 2020 we were successful with our bid and were awarded an extra £1.5m of capital funding. This money has been spent in 2020/21 and 2021/22 improving the A614 in Howden and Goole.

We also receive various allocations from the DfT's Pothole Action Fund and from single funding grants, often made available through the Government's annual budget.

How much would it cost to repair all the highways in the East Riding?

The road network is in constant use and is subject to constant wear and tear.

If we wanted to bring all highways up to an ‘as new’ standard, we estimate it would require an investment of £500m. This is sometimes referred to as the maintenance backlog. Regrettably, there is not enough money to fund all schemes and we have to accept that there will always be roads that are not in the best condition. Considering the amount of funding available, we have to prioritise our planned maintenance work carefully to ensure works offer value for money and maximum benefits for East Riding residents and visitors.

How do you prioritise what work is done?

We have to make the most of our existing infrastructure and which means we have to get as much out of a road as we can. We do this by the use of preventative treatments where sites are suitable and affordable, and by planning more expensive reconstruction at an appropriate time. Acting too late means low-cost solutions may be unsuitable. Acting too early means we won’t have the money available for other roads in need, leading to more costly repairs later on and spiralling highway costs.

Our major maintenance programme is reviewed annually. Every public carriageway and footway in East Riding is assessed each year using the latest available data including condition surveys, safety records and input from the highway area engineers.

The data is gathered in autumn in order to put together prioritised lists for the following financial year. The carriageways are split into four lists: one each for A roads, B roads, C roads and Unclassified roads. Footways are split into two lists: Category 1 & 2 footways (busy urban footways) and Category 3 & 4 footways (less busy links and local access footways). Each programme is then developed by working down the prioritised list to make the best use of our available funding.

The capital funding allocation that we receive from the Department of Transport is split between the different lists using an asset-based methodology, taking into consideration the Performance Indicators (PIs) that we report annually. This means that each programme has its own budget attached to it.

What highway maintenance works are planned for this year?

Proposed carriageway planned maintenance works for 2021. The treatment within these works will consist of any of the following:

  • Full reconstruction

  • Inlay or overlay (surface layer replacement)

  • Surface dressing treatment (tar and chippings)

  • Pre-surface dressing patching (PSD - patching prior to following year's surface dressing).

Highway Maintenance Treatment Types - more information (pdf 450kb)

Planned Maintenance Works

Major maintenance works:

Highways Works 2021 (pdf 118kb)

Surface dressing works:

Find out more about Surface Dressing Works in 2021.

Please note: these schemes are indicative only and may be subject to change.

There is more information on road and footpath maintenance in East Yorkshire available.

Further details will appear throughout the year on:

one.network - Roadworks East Riding (external website)

Why don’t you fix all defects when you come to a section of road?

All highways are regularly inspected to identify defects which are likely to cause a hazard to road users. Inspections are also carried out following reports from the public.

We assess the risks of the defects based on their size, depth, and location and determine an appropriate response. We often find that defects do not require immediate attention. Where it is safe to do so, some minor defects are not repaired or are left for a longer period of time in order for more efficient repair methods to be undertaken.

If you see a pothole or defect likely to cause danger please report it online, giving dimensions (width, depth, length) and location in order that appropriate action can be taken.

Isn’t it better to do a proper surfacing scheme rather than come back lots of times to fix potholes?

Yes, in the long-term the cost of a surfacing scheme is less per square metre than pothole repairs, and the council does favour preventative rather than reactive maintenance, however, the funding for more expensive surfacing schemes is often not readily available.

It is often necessary to undertake cheaper pothole repairs to keep roads safe as there is insufficient funding to do more expensive major repair works.

We do take account of the ongoing reactive costs associated with pothole repairs when we are producing our prioritised list of planned maintenance schemes each year.

Who can I contact for more information?

The highways asset management team can be contacted on:

Email: transport.policy@eastriding.gov.uk

What is the Pothole Fund?

The Pothole Action Fund was first announced in the 2015 Budget and totals £250 million, enough to repair on average over five million potholes or stop them forming in the first place. This funding is allocated by formula and is shared by local highway authorities in England, outside London, between 2016/17 and 2020/21.

The DfT has announced several rounds of the Pothole Action Fund over the last five years. The following statements include details of the funding we have received and what we have spent this on:

Department for Transport Pothole Action Fund 2016 (pdf 2.1mb)

Department for Transport Pothole Action Fund 2017/18 (pdf 213kb)

Department for Transport Pothole Action Fund 2018/19 (pdf 150kb)

Department for Transport Pothole Action Fund 2019/20 (pdf 221kb)

This year, we received a joint Pothole and Challenge Fund award for £7.915m. Whilst the majority of this is being used to undertake crucial repairs on Boothferry Bridge, the remaining Pothole Fund spend over the period 2020-2021 is:

  • Roadmaster works have been carried out to the value of £248,085 filling or preventing 8,793 potholes
  • Ultrascreed works have been spent to the tune of £85,117 filling 10,302 potholes together with a number of schemes that required patching where £83,500 has been spent on filling and preventing a further 810 potholes.
  • Structural patching programme which was enhanced to deliver £553,870 worth of structural repair.

An example of how Ultrascreed can be used as a tool to reduce the number of potholes is illustrated.

Before treatment

Ultrascreed - before treatment

Ultrascreed - before treatment

After treatment

Ultrascreed - after treatment

Ultrascreed - after treatment

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