Highway maintenance

Salford City Council has a statutory duty to maintain its highways as outlined in the Highways Act 1980.

There is no definition in the act as to the level of maintenance required although national codes have been produced to offer some guidance. The booklet, 'Well Maintained Highways - A Code of Practice for Maintenance Management' produced by the Roads Liaison Group, makes recommendations for surveys and inspections of the adopted highway network, except where local constraints or demands have required local solutions.

These resulting local variations are presented within Salford City Council's operational policies and standards for highway and street lighting maintenance.

Objectives of highway maintenance

The main purpose of highway maintenance is to maintain the adopted highway network for the safe use of pedestrians and motorists. Salford City Council delivers a wide range of highway maintenance services meeting the Code of Practice for Maintenance Management, which addresses three key objectives:

• Network safety - safety inspections and ad-hoc inspections
• Network serviceability - inspection of utility and licensees works
• Network sustainability - structural condition surveys