Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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695. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the amount of steady State fixed-capital investment required to maintain local, regional and national roads, by county, in tabular form. [45749/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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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 land transport system in its 'steady state', a key element of which is the national, regional and local road network.

The full analysis, in terms of output, methodology and assumptions is 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).  It does not, however, include a regional breakdown of costs for the road network.

The estimate for regional and local roads is based on industry standards, asset management best practice and conservative cost estimates. It 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.

For the national road network the steady state analysis includes the cost of pavement works, signs and lines, safety works, bridge works, routine maintenance, small works and costs associated with programme support and network management. In addition to these network costs, there are also capital budget commitments requiring provision to be made for schemes at closeout and construction and also for ongoing commitments in respect of PPP projects. The analysis conducted determined that on average the gross steady state requirement for national roads is c. €580 million per annum (using 2015 as the basis).

National Road Steady State Estimate, 2015

Regional and Local Road Annual Steady State Estimate