The Scottish Government has increased the funding by £34m to Transport Scotland to carry out trunk road maintenance works in the country.

The trunk roads maintenance budget that was originally £165m in 2016 / 2017 has been increased to over £199m in 2017 / 2018.

With this additional funding from the government, Transport Scotland intends to carry out additional repairs to road surfaces to address potholes and other defects, which will be an addition to the safety work, inspections and bridge maintenance works.

"The work that I’ve seen on the M8 is a good example of the on-going improvements that are carried out every day across the country."

Scotland Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the trunk road network remains safe and efficient to support our economy.

“This additional investment in trunk road maintenance helps us realise our strategic aims and brings economic benefits.

"It supports jobs and will also improve the infrastructure of our public services for years to come.

“The additional funding will allow Transport Scotland to go out and make the repairs that will not only improve conditions for road users, they will also extend the life of our trunk roads.

“The work that I’ve seen on the M8 is a good example of the on-going improvements that are carried out every day across the country.

“This is an exciting time for our transport infrastructure with some of our major projects due to come online in the coming months, including the major upgrade of our central motorway network.”

Currently, Transport Scotland is reported to be working on the drawing-up a programme that will help the government agency to execute all the proposed works in an efficient manner.

The works that will be carried out by the agency includes resurfacing and waterproofing on the Kincardine Bridge, the refurbishment of spans on the Cromarty Bridge and the cable inspections on the Forth Road Bridge.

It has been noted that the Scottish Government’s total investment in Scotland’s motorways and trunk roads, has risen from £830m in 2016/2017 to £997m, an increase of £167m.