The Scottish Government

As has been the trend over recent years, the 2004/05 winter saw many occasions where marginal temperatures required precautionary salting. Autolink fully met its obligations for response and spreading times, achieving KPIs of 100%. There were few prolonged periods of heavy snow which called for more intensive treatment and there were no weather related closures of the motorway. This showed that Autolink was maintaining its high standards from previous years and keeping this important corridor open to traffic. Further details of Autolink's performance are given in section 3.2.

Traffic management

During maintenance works the safety of road users and Autolink's workforce is paramount. Given the nature of the motorway with high traffic volumes, high speeds and a high percentage of heavy goods vehicles, only certain limited maintenance operations can be carried out without lane closures. To minimise disruption to traffic many of the maintenance operations were carried out overnight and at weekends.

Autolink has established a strong record of keeping the motorway available to users and this was maintained during the year. The agreement requires Autolink to consult on proposed lane closures and to seek the approval of the Scottish Ministers' Agent ( PAG) when works will require the motorway to be restricted to less than two running lanes. Other than under emergency situations, such closures usually only occurred during off-peak periods. With careful and detailed advanced planning, delays to traffic due to works were kept to an absolute minimum.

Traffic counting

An important requirement under the agreement is the measurement of traffic volumes along the length of the route. This is primarily achieved by loops placed in the road surface. A typical site is shown in figure 72. These measurements form the input to a complex financial model which calculates the payments to Autolink. A significant part of its ongoing work is the repair, maintenance and replacement as required of the automatic monitoring equipment. Repairs to traffic counting equipment were carried out within a reasonable timescale.

Emergencies

Autolink is obliged to deal with the various types of emergencies that occur on the motorway. A high proportion of such instances relate to road traffic accidents, when Autolink works under police control.

During 2004/05, the carriageways were fully closed on 12 occasions, all following major traffic incidents. On one occasion in October, both carriageways were closed for most of the day to allow the police to complete investigations following a fatal accident. This resulted in major traffic delays. In addition, during December, traffic on the route was severely disrupted by an incident just south of the border outside Autolink's area. As a result of traffic congestion, the police closed a substantial length of the southbound carriageway for 24 hours. There were no weather related closures.

On these major, and the more numerous less severe incidents, Autolink's emergency response times were all well within the timescales required under the agreement.

CCS

In common with the other parts of the motorway and trunk road network, Autolink operates a CCS for enquiries and complaints. Calls are routed to Autolink's main office at Lockerbie. During the period 298 calls were received and many of these related to observations of debris or animals on the road. All calls were dealt with promptly and well within the prescribed timescales.

QMS

Autolink and its contractors, principally the M6 Joint Venture and Golden River Traffic, are required to maintain a QMS complying with the requirements of BSENISO 9001, and to ensure it is regularly reviewed. The agreement requires any significant changes to be submitted for assessment by PAG, who must respond within a set timescale. During the year Autolink carried out a major review of its systems to incorporate revisions to ISO 9001, resulting in the publication of a revised quality plan. These systems were independently assessed and Autolink achieved accreditation to the new standard. In addition, Autolink submitted 50 separate procedures and method statements for review under this process.

To maintain a high standard of compliance with the QMS, audits were performed by PAG, Autolink and M6 JV. To avoid duplication, but to ensure audits are as searching and wide-ranging as possible, a joint Autolink/ PAG audit schedule is agreed every six months.

During 2004/05, PAG carried out eight audits of Autolink and its principal contractors. In addition, regular meetings were held with Autolink's project quality director.

Autolink has agreed 18 KPIs which are reported to the Department at quarterly intervals. These cover the main operating areas, such as inspections, routine maintenance, winter maintenance, the quality system and customer care. Most are related to requirements within the agreement, but there are others which are used as management information. During this period, all KPI data was reported accurately and on time.

Autolink consistently achieved the target performance on 10 of the 13 indicators linked to the agreement. The missed targets were:

• Suspension of the major road markings renewal programme due to poor weather.
• The postponement of three bridges inspections.
• The late submission of three reports during the year.

The lining programme and the bridges inspections have since been completed.

Among the other indicators, Autolink fully achieved its self-imposed targets for three indicators. The main problem was due to the slow closeout of non-conformities following one particular audit.

It was encouraging to note no default notices were issued during 2004/05.

Autolink and its contractors demonstrate a strong commitment on the QMS to guide their operations.

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