SECTION 2 – NATIONAL WIND GUIDELINES

National Guidelines – Context

This document has been prepared by Transport Scotland as a guidance document for use by road authorities and stakeholders involved in the management of high wind on all classes of road throughout the Scottish road network. The aim is that road authorities can use these guidelines to develop a robust and proportionate set of procedures to manage the impact of high wind on their network and, in turn, address the issues of congestion on the network and safety of road users both leading to improved journey time reliability and benefits to the economy as a whole.

Prior to Transport Scotland developing wind management procedures, the then Scottish Executive undertook a review of existing policies and procedures adopted for the management of high wind across the trunk road network in both Scotland and the rest of the UK. The aim of the study was to advise on the requirement, or otherwise, for the production of a National Wind Guideline document. The full scope of the original study is detailed below:

Identify areas of the trunk road network where high winds are problematic;
Review current practice;
Identify current methodologies adopted by key organisations in managing/ limiting the impact of high winds;
Identify organisational responsibilities and strategies currently in place within Scotland and the legal authority under which they are applied;
Review best practice in the rest of the UK and worldwide;
Investigate integration issues with existing wind warning systems;
Make recommendations as to whether or not there is a need to change the locally developed practices; and
Recommend whether or not a national guideline would be appropriate.

The outcome of the study identified that, although there were a number of existing wind monitoring and wind warning systems located across the road network in Scotland, there was no specific national guideline/management strategy. As a result, differing approaches and procedures were adopted in various sites across Scotland.

This led to an inconsistent structure to the approach taken regarding the management of wind impact across the country. It was noted that information dissemination (in relation to the incidence of high wind and the restrictions in place) between the various road maintenance organisations, local authorities, bridge boards, police forces, and in the case of the trunk road network, the Traffic Scotland control centre, lacked structure and cohesion.

The study outcome detailed that a guideline should be established to provide an overall framework for managing of the impact of high wind on the Scottish road network and be made available to all authorities. In essence, this would present a holistic approach to the management of high wind with guidance on the policies and procedures, based upon best practice identified within the review. Additionally, it also recommended that the guidelines should outline roles and responsibilities for both pre-planning and adoption during wind incidents.

Relevance to the entire Road Network

The impacts of high wind are not restricted to motorways, the trunk road network and bridges. Transport Scotland has prepared this guideline document with the intention that it embodies good practice which can be employed by road authorities across Scotland.

It is recognised that a key focus of any future strategy is the requirement for improved data exchange and information dissemination. Currently, the Traffic Scotland control centre assumes responsibility for dissemination of information across the trunk road network by intelligent means such as variable message signs (VMS) or the Traffic Scotland and Freight Scotland websites (www.trafficscotland.org and www.freightscotland.org ). It is also noted that there is a requirement to ensure that this data is exchanged with those authorities responsible for local roads. This cross-boundary exchange is essential in order to minimise the adverse effects on the local roads of diversions to and from the trunk road network as well as local network diversions.

The importance of the appropriate scale of information dissemination to the local network is also a key priority since there may be less opportunity to disseminate information by ‘intelligent’ means such as variable message signs (VMS), website etc. at the local level. In these circumstances, the established liaison between the trunk road maintenance organisations, the local police forces and the local authorities can be adopted into procedures.

Should wind management procedures not be in place for a particular location, management of such an event should be operated in line with existing cross-agency incident management procedures.

Purpose of the National Guidelines

The ethos of these guidelines is to develop a common national framework within which the incidences of high wind across the entire Scottish road network can be effectively managed. This not only focuses on the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders involved but also concentrates on the elements of wind management procedures to be adopted and agreed to help reduce congestion, provide greater journey time reliability and positively influence the safety of travellers and road users in the event of a wind related incident.

These national guidelines will not seek to replace existing procedures at the local level, unless there is good reason to do so. The guidelines shall build on existing local procedures, organisational relationships, existing systems and be used to develop a common approach to the management of the impact of high wind on the Scottish road network.

Application of the National Guidelines

The production of these national guidelines provides an opportunity to describe a framework whereby the organisational arrangements, wind monitoring requirements, roles and responsibilities for decision making and information dissemination can be clearly defined and understood for all sections of the network under consideration.

The Scottish motorway and trunk road network provides the most important long distance links between Scotland's cities and towns, ferry terminals, the English trunk road network and the international ferry ports. The network comprises almost 3,500km and some 1900 bridges. Although this represents only 6% of Scottish roads, it carries almost one-third of the total traffic volume and approximately
two-thirds of heavy commercial vehicle traffic.

The statutory responsibility for the network of local roads and bridges lies with individual local authorities. Councils are therefore responsible for the management, maintenance and improvement of all public roads in their areas which do not form part of the trunk road network. This represents around 94% of Scotland’s roads and over 11,000 bridges maintained by local authorities in Scotland.

These guidelines are intended for use by all relevant bodies involved with, and impacting on, the operation of all roads across the Scottish road network. This includes local authorities, bridge boards, trunk road maintenance organisations and the police forces.

It should be noted, however, that it remains the responsibility of the driver to drive safely and in accordance with the prevailing conditions. Rule 146 of the Highway Code states that the driver should adapt his/her driving to the appropriate type and condition of road and, in particular, take the road and traffic conditions into account.

Structure of the Document

This document sets out the principles to be followed for successful management of wind impact and the associated roles and responsibilities of parties involved. The remainder of this document is set out as follows:

Section 3 – Ten Steps to Procedure Development;
Section 4 – Example of a two-Stage Procedure (a hypothetical example of managing a wind related incident on an at risk section of road network);
Section 5 – Summary; and
Appendices with supporting information.