Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 356: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if all local authorities have conducted a condition survey on non-national roads; when such surveys were carried out; when it is intended to repeat the exercise; the length of non-national roads by county; the grade of those roads; if road condition and road use is part of the calculation for funding allocations together with road length; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5607/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The provision and improvement of non-national roads is a matter for local authorities to be funded from their own resources supplemented by State grants provided by my Department. There have been significant increases in recent years in the level of State funding provided to local authorities for the provision, improvement and maintenance of non-national roads. State funding in 2007 for non-national roads, at over €607.5 million, is at its highest ever level, and represents a very substantial increase of 9% on last year's record allocation, or an increase of almost €50 million.

The first Pavement Condition Study of the non-national road network, which was commissioned by my Department, was carried out in 1996. The second Pavement Condition Study on non-national roads, which was also commissioned by my Department and carried out by consultants, was completed in 2005. Surveys of the network, under the recent study, were carried out by the consultants in 2004. The results show that there has been a very large growth in traffic volumes, including numbers of heavy goods vehicles, on our roads over the last 10 years and that the combination of growth in traffic volumes and damaging power has dramatically increased the structural loading on the non-national roads network. The study concluded that the economic boom, since the first study was carried out in 1996, has fundamentally changed the loading regime on the non-national roads network, with much higher and more frequent loading by heavier vehicles now being the norm.

The rate of occurrence of potholes and road disintegration has effectively halved since 1996 as a result of the €1.5 billion investment in Restoration Improvement and Maintenance works over the 1997 to 2004 period. However, the instance of other defects, such as rutting and edge cracking, has increased since 1996 as a result of growth in traffic on the network, particularly that of heavier and wider commercial vehicles.

On foot of the findings of the study, I have increased the grants available to County Councils for Restoration Improvement works to almost €225 million in 2007, which is an increase of almost €20 million, or 9.6%, on the 2006 allocation. This very substantial increase means that significant progress can be made in allocating funds to address the deficiencies identified by the Pavement Condition Study. I have also allocated grants totalling €81 million for Restoration Maintenance works this year. This represents an increase of €6 million, or 8%, on the 2006 allocation. In view of the fact that the last study was carried out recently, I do not propose to have another one carried out in the near future.

In determining the annual non-national road grant allocations, the overall objective is to resource each local authority appropriately in relation to their ongoing and special needs. Non-national road grants are allocated under a number of grant categories including:

Discretionary Maintenance, Discretionary Improvement and Restoration Maintenance Grants to county councils, which are determined predominantly on a pro-rata non-national road length basis;

Restoration Improvement Grants to county councils, which are based on Multi-Annual Restoration Programmes submitted by local authorities to my Department, taking account of previous allocations and the results of the recent Pavement Condition Study;

Block Grants and Special Block Grants for Carriageway Repairs to City, Borough and Town Councils, which are based on the population of each urban area and its environs;

Other grant categories which are project specific such as the Specific Improvements Grant Scheme and the Strategic Non-National Roads Grants Scheme, under which projects are submitted by local authorities for consideration and allocations are determined following an assessment of their individual merits, compliance with eligibility criteria, the needs of all areas and the total funds available.

Details of the length of non-national roads, per road category, in each County Council area are set out in the table.