Public roads and maintenance

We are responsible for road maintenance throughout Orkney, including planned programmes of resurfacing and repair, and reactive work to deal with potholes, drainage issues and other faults.

The public roads list

The Statutory List of Public Roads is a register of all roads in Orkney that have been adopted and are maintained at public expense. The list is updated quarterly when new roads are adopted. The copyright remains with Orkney Islands Council and the list must not be used for commercial purposes without our consent. You can also visit us at the Council Offices during normal working hours to view the list in person.

Is a specific road publicly maintained?

The quickest way to check whether a road is publicly maintained is to use the free One Scotland Gazetteer portal or contact our roads support team. A charge may apply for this service.

Report a road fault

If you spot a pothole, damaged road surface, blocked drain or other road defect, please report it to us.

Contact us

Current road works

You can view current and planned road works across Orkney, including who is carrying out the work and how long it is expected to last, on the Road Works Scotland website. You can also view works by location on our interactive map.

We also publish a regular updates covering planned road works, closures and any disruption across Orkney.