Nine in ten bridges need repairs amid rising backlog
● Labour raises concern after cost of fixing defects increases to £570m
Nine in ten bridges on Scotland’s main roads have defects which need repairs, transport secretary Michael Matheson has admitted.
Thebillhasrocketedbymore than 50 per cent to £570 million over the last eight years.
Scottish Labour, which requested the figures, said people would be worried.
A total of 1,720 of 1,933 bridges on the trunk road network need work – or 89 per cent.
Mr Matheson also said he was unable to say when the backlog would be cleared on the bridges, which are run by the Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency.
The revelation comes weeks after Scotland on Sunday highlighted its chief bridge engineer calling for a major increase in funding “to prevent issues becoming critical”. Hazel Mcdonald said the backlog “needs to be addressed”. She urged the current £64m annual budget be increased towards £100m over the next few years. It fell from £65m last year.
The public spending watchdog Audit Scotland reported the repair backlog was £60m in 2004 and £372m in 2010.
Mr Matheson said: “We are unable to determine an accurate estimate for the time to clear the current bridge maintenance backlog because the calculation is dependent on a number of unknown variables, such as future funding levels, deterioration rates
0 The Forth Road Bridge is undergoing extensive repairs
and network availability. We will continue to use welldeveloped asset management practices to ensure the areas of most need are prioritised to keep the trunk road network safe and available for use.”
Labour has pledged to “rebuild Scotland with a transformational £70 billion over a decade”.
Labour’s transport spokesperson Colin Smyth MSP said: “Scotland’s infrastructure has
been left to rust after 11 years of SNP mismanagement and Tory austerity.
“The [Scottish] government’s own transport agency have made clear they are being underfunded and the annual budget falls way short of the money needed to stop the situation becoming critical.
“That will leave many members of the public worried.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “There are no bridges on the Scottish trunk road network out of use as a result of requiring repairs.
“There is a strict inspection and safety regime.”
He said the backlog had grown as more bridges had become the responsibility of Transport Scotland, such as the Forth Road Bridge in 2015 and the Queensferry Crossing last year.