E&I conducts major survey of road conditions

Monday 18 October 2021

Communications between E&I and Sure have begun to coordinate the now-approved installation of fibre and its effect on roadworks.

A ‘Highway Condition’ Survey has taken place to assess the island’s 260 miles of public roads and inform E&I’s maintenance programme.

The survey will help identify and prioritise the roads that will require resurfacing works in the future and the funding required.

Deputy Lindsay De Saumarez told Express that any road resurfacing that is required will be coordinated with the installation of fibre across the island starting next year and finishing in 2026. 

E&I will have access to the data from the survey within the next couple of weeks.

“We need to co-ordinate with utilities, and in some cases, landowners and residents," said Deputy De Sausmarez. 

“We used to be quite reactive about roads maintenance, and actually that’s a really expensive way of doing it, so we took a conscious policy decision to be much more proactive and get ahead of the game.

“By doing that, we can be much more cost effective in terms of how we spend taxpayers’ money.”

There is already a pipeline of roadworks for the next couple years and unless anything "super critical" emerges from the survey, the results will inform the work that needs to be scheduled from 2023.

Economic Development has admitted there will be some "pain" in the years to come because of increased roadworks as fibre coverage is expanded. 

“The key to road closures will be coordination,” said Committee President Neil Inder.  

“There will be some pain to be had in some areas but a good part of the network will be installed in existing ducts and where houses are currently served by overhead cables. 

“There is a lot of glass beneath the roads in Guernsey - the difference is that some will not have had what they call ‘the final mile’ connected to your home. It does not mean that every single road will be dug up.”