Ayrshire Roads Alliance sets out investment in our roads
East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet has agreed the Ayrshire Roads Alliance’s programme of investment works that will allow improvements to be carried out to carriageways, footways and street lighting, in addition to bridge strengthening and investment in transportation, traffic and road safety.
For 2025/26 the overall roads budget will be £7.970 million, and a number of carriageway and footway schemes have been identified and prioritised for action. The investment will see:
- £2.305m being allocated for carriageway structural maintenance
- £0.150m for footway structural maintenance
- £0.215m for street lighting improvement schemes
- £0.330m for traffic and transportation
- £0.820m for car parks
- £0.050m for active travel schemes.
£3.5m has been allocated for bridge and culvert strengthening, and £2m of this will be used to deal with a series of unexpected road slips that have recently occurred across East Ayrshire. The exact reason for this is unknown but it is likely to be a combination of climate change and more frequent or heavier traffic on public roads.
As a result of targeted expenditure, figures show a continued improvement since 2016 in the overall condition of East Ayrshire’s road network. Conditions are, however, predicted to deteriorate over future years without increased investment. The Council will manage this risk by implementing a robust carriageway inspection regime; ensuring that potholes are repaired as quickly as possible; implementing a programme of structural patching in addition to the carriageway resurfacing and surface dressing programmes; and considering the use of alternative materials to undertake carriageway repairs. In 2024/25, an additional revenue allocation of £400,000 was used to target deep patching and a further £800,000 has been allocated for 2025/26 for residential road and footway repairs.
Traffic, Transportation and Road Safety improvement programmes will continue to be delivered in partnership with Transport Scotland and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), with a focus on improving road safety, enhancing the transport network and promoting accessible travel choices.
This will include expanding the successful School Streets programme; making improvements to the bus infrastructure, and developing proposals for improvements to the B778 between Stewarton and Fenwick.
Councillor Jim McMahon, Cabinet Spokesperson for Housing, Transport and Communities, said: “The roads infrastructure is one of the Council’s most valuable assets and it is vital to the economic wellbeing and development of East Ayrshire.
“By re-profiling current available budgets, we have been able to sustain the significant investment needed in our infrastructure so that we can continue to make improvements and ensure the safety of everyone who uses our roads.”
ends