Chapter 1
Overview
1.1 Background
The Scottish trunk road network
The network is 3,128km long, excluding M6 DBFO and M77 PPP. It contains a total of 5,627 structures, including bridges and footbridges.
It is divided into four geographic Units (see figure 1), each with its own contract. Each of the four Units (see figures 4-7), NE, SE, NW and SW, is managed and maintained by an OC. Figure 2 outlines
the structure of the arrangements.
The OC contracts
Since 1 April 2006, following the closure of the 2G contracts in these Units, NW and SW have been managed and maintained by Scotland TranServ (a joint venture between Balfour Beatty and Mouchel) and Amey, respectively, under the 3G contracts. These contracts will be in place until at least 2011.
The 2G contracts for NE and SE were extended to March 2007. Following tendering, the 3G contracts for both Units were awarded to BEAR Scotland Ltd. The new contracts started on 1 April 2007
(see figure 3) and will be in place until
at least 2012.
The development of the 3G contracts gave an opportunity to improve on the already high standards achieved under the 2G arrangements.
Overall, the 3G contracts take a similar form to the 2G contracts. The opportunity was also taken to clarify some requirements and to give an improved level of service for activities such as winter service; defect inspections and recording; OC reporting; and cyclic maintenance.
| 2G | 2G/3G | 3G | |
| Unit | From Apr 2001 | From Apr 2006 | From Apr 2007 |
| NE | BEAR | BEAR | BEAR |
| SE | Amey | Amey | BEAR |
| NW | BEAR | Scotland TranServ | |
| SW | Amey | Amey | |
As the 2007/08 reporting period is the first to include all OCs operating under 3G contracts, this will be the first annual report to cover these contracts for
all Units.
The contracts’ objectives
The contracts to manage and maintain the network were awarded by the Scottish Ministers (see figure 3 which shows contract start dates for each Unit).
The contracts focus on the following three objectives:
• Customer service – “to enable a ‘customer oriented’ approach to be further developed in the way roads are managed and maintained.”
