Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 October 2015

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

Ceisteanna (468)

Timmy Dooley

Ceist:

468. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his Department's latest estimate of the notional steady-state expenditure required to maintain regional and local roads in their current condition, by county, per year; and if he will provide details of the assumptions made in the analysis. [35660/15]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport

As part of work to determine a Strategic Framework for Investment in Land Transport, my Department's Economic and Financial Evaluation Unit assessed and estimated the level of expenditure required to maintain the current transport system in its 'steady state'.  This analysis looked at the whole transport network, one element of which is the regional and local road network.

The full details of the analysis, in terms of output, methodology and assumptions are contained within 'Background Paper 13: Analysis of Steady State Cost of Transport in Ireland', which is published on both my Department's website and the website of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES).

The analysis conducted does not include a regional breakdown of costs. The estimate is based on industry standards, asset management best practice and conservative cost estimates. As set out in the table below, the estimate is based on a minimum annual output of: providing surface sealing on 5% of the network; road strengthening on 5% of the network; and general maintenance and repairs on the totality. The analysis points towards a conservative estimate of €580 million per annum to keep the regional and local road network in a steady state condition.  A breakdown by road type is included in the table.

Category	Road Length	%RI	%RM	Rl rate	RMrate	Avg Width	Routine Maintenance	RI Cost	RMcost	Routine Maint. Cost	Total
Rural	Metres	works	works	€/m 2	€/m 2	-	€/km	€	€	€	€
Regional	12,370,523	5	5	25	5	6.03	2000	93,242,817	18,648,563	24,741,046	136,632,426
LP	23,254,428	5	5	19	4	4.44	1500	98,087,178	20,649,932	34,881,642	153,618,753
LS	32,560,550	5	5	15	4	3.56	1000	86,936,667	23,183,111	32,560,550	142,680,328
LT	20,955,934	5	5	13	4	3	1000	40,864,071	12,573,560	20,955,934	74,393,566
sub-total	89,141,435	-	-	-	-	-	-	319,130,734	75,055,167	113,139,172	507,325,073
Urban	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Regional	749,706	5	5	50	10	7	4000	13,119,863	2,623,973	2,998,826	18,742,662
Local	3,701,099	5	5	40	10	5	2000	37,010,990	9,252,747	7,402,198	53,665,935
sub total	4,450,805	-	-	-	-	-	-	50,130,853	11,876,720	10,401,024	72,408,597
Total	93,592,240	-	-	-	-	-	-	369,261,587	86,931,888	123,540,1961	579,733,670

1 There are approximately 19,000 bridges on the regional and local road network and it is estimated that bridge maintenance & rehabilitation works would account for about €35 million per annum from the total of €123.5 million for routine maintenance.