ROAD workers had to abandon a job in Glasgow by lunchtime on the day they started after running out of materials.
The contractors were resurfacing Lindsay Drive in the Kelvindale area of the city recently when they suddenly had to quit the operation.
A meeting also heard how three other roads – Beith Street, Highburgh Road and Hyndland Road, which were resurfaced – needed to be done again within a year.
Local councillor Jill Brown pointed out the situation at the latest Glasgow full council meeting and asked how much the council has to shell out due to human error during road works.
Speaking at Thursday’s full council meeting, she said: “Recently in my ward, the resurfacing of Lindsay Drive started and on the same day at lunchtime stopped because contractors advised they had run out of materials and could not get any more from the quarry.
"They said it is not an isolated issue.”
She added: “We have had three roads that have been resurfaced and then needed to be resurfaced again within a year.”
Brown also raised the overdue Kirklee Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), which was originally scheduled for roll-out in 2021. She said the delay has left residents facing “parking chaos.”
In response, SNP councillor Laura Doherty said a paper would be brought forward on the new parking controls.
Commenting on the issue of human error, the convenor for neighbourhoods said that “the majority of the work programmed” runs to plan.
The SNP councillor added: “There are a wide range of issues that can arise and will influence normal day-to-day service operations. And as a consequence, management of these issues can result in situations where plans and schedules need to be changed to maintain appropriate levels of service delivery.
“Such issues can typically include seasonal factors such as adverse weather, especially during winter months when surface water and icy roads can create new risks and call for urgent scheduling responses placing additional demand on available resources and calling for adjustments on working crews, available vehicles and the types of work that may be needed to complete as a greater priority.”
She continued: ”It is inherent in such diverse operations that there will be incidences where human error and service inefficiencies arise.
"Whilst the financial cost of these are not routinely calculated as our systems don’t accommodate for this, the construction industry as a whole acknowledges that factors such as human error, changes to project scope and work scheduling inefficiencies can account for up to 25% of initial project costs.
“We acknowledge that errors can arise and additional costs can sometimes occur so staff carry out lessons learned and exercises following these situations to minimise future disruption where possible.”
Doherty pointed out that the council has to maintain and manage 1924 kilometres of carriageways, 3124 kilometres of footways as well as 77,000 drains and 74,000 street lights.
She said that the SNP committed another £20 million for roads and parks for 2025 to 2026.
