Local authority road network condition is assessed via the Scottish Road Maintenance Condition Survey. SCOTS commissions the annual collection of this survey and data processing services across the entire Scottish local authority road network of approximately 20,000 kilometres.

Specialist vehicles equipped with lasers and high-resolution cameras record a variety of road characteristics. The collected data is assessed, and a Roads Condition Indictor (RCI) score assigned to each ten-meter stretch of road.

This score allows categorisation of each section of the road into one of three categories;

• Green – where the road is generally in a good state of repair
• Amber – where the road shows some apparent deterioration which should be investigated to determine the optimum time for planned maintenance
• Red – where the road is in poor overall condition and likely to require planned maintenance soon (ie within a year or so)

The survey aims to cover all local authority A roads in both directions every two years, all B and C roads in both directions every four years and a 10% sample of unclassified roads every year, with the RCI for unclassified road being calculated from four years of combined data to give a rolling four-year indicator.

As the carriageway network is an authority’s most valuable asset, data providing information on changes in condition and thus the investment required to treat the network is critical to all authorities’ roads asset management plan.