Roadworks the American Way - Lessons to be learnt?

Having spent some time in America this past couple of weeks, one thing that I was able to look into was roadworks, as this is somewhat topical around Howdenshire at the moment, and whilst driving in Alabama and Mississippi took the opportunity to investigate further as to how significant repairs and road construction are able to be carried out with seemingly minimum disruption to road users, and residents.

The first thing to notice was the lack of the 1,000’s of cones we see when roadworks are carried out locally, with the works are carried out at night when the roads are less busy, they appear to avoid peak traffic periods, and relatively short sections are started and completed before moving on to the next. There also seems to be fewer workmen and the road construction is somewhat simpler, without kerbs for the most part and constructed slightly higher than the verge to aid drainage.

The speed enforcement signage is also quite interesting, there are no fixed or variable speed cameras, to ‘trap the motorist’ along the whole section of the repair all of the time, instead there is a limit and double fines only when ‘workmen are in the road’ - not when they’re not, this is clearly signed and enforced by a combination of gun-toting State Troopers, Sheriffs and Local Enforcement Officers.

On talking to one of the construction teams working near the State border, they were a little surprised on seeing a ‘foreigner’ in those parts when I stopped to talk about roadworks, but quite amused when I described the way roads are repaired in England. It was clear that they looked at what could be done in a day (or night) and broke the whole job down into daily segments where they could plane the road surface, remove the scalpings and lay the new tarmac, before moving on to the next section the following day. The traffic is normally controlled by flags, stop/go boards and sometimes traffic lights, and diversions as a last resort.

Interestingly they described how the scalpings are recycled, remixed with tar and re-used as a base.

All in all a very different carry on to what we see in England, and some of their traffic management arrangements we could learn certainly learn from – BUT then there is that small issue of Health and Safety legislation which we would perhaps find difficult to get over.

Road Grates Replaced on Gilberdyke to Howden Road

Sometimes there is a perception that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s highway maintenance is not as responsive as it might be, mainly because of a history of reduced government funding. But a good example of how the highways maintenance team works really well is highlighted in the work replacing some 40 gully tops/grates on the B1230 at each side of Balkholme flyover between Gilberdyke and Howden.

Many would have seen the numerous times one or more of the grates were laid on the tarmac or wedged in the frame at an odd angle after being ‘bounced out’ of the frames by the action of being run over by a vehicle.


I had received a number of calls and messages from residents and road users regarding this, and actually found myself stopping on numerous occasions to put the grates back into their frames, and on mentioning this was surprised to find that Anna Longthorp owner of local business ‘Anna’s Happy Trotters’ had also been stopping to replace grates in their frames. It got to the stage where Anna would send me a facebook message telling me that she had ‘replaced another one’…. (pictured with Anna Longthorp)

The Council acted very quickly when I raised this as a safety concern, they inspected the gully grates, and ordered in the new iron tops and frames when the originals were found to be badly corroded around the hinges and unsafe.

The most pleasing aspect of this work carried out by the Council’s own team, was not just the quality and speed of which it was accomplished, but with the minimum disruption to road users. A good example of a job well done before anyone was seriously hurt.

Long awaited roadworks between Wressle and Breighton

Roadworks on the road between the Howdenshire villages of Wressle and Breighton are due to shortly commence on Monday 22nd August and are expected to last two weeks (Weather permitting).

(Pictured with my fellow Howdenshire ERYC Councillor Nick Evans)

This is something that I have been pushing for since before the Bubwith bridge closure, and certainly afterwards as the road became damaged with the diverted vehicles using the road as a detour.

The carriageway between Breighton Road & Lund Lane is due to be resurfaced as part of the Council’s road improvement programme 2011 - 2012. The work will consist of recycling the existing carriageway to a depth of 220mm, further strengthening of carriageway approaching ‘Wressle Clough', and a new macadam road surface course.

To undertake the work safely it will be necessary to close Breighton Road & Lund Lane at the junction with Main Street in Wressle and at the junction with Ferry Lane in Breighton for the duration of the works. Although access will be maintained for residents, refuse collections, postal services and emergency services.

Traffic will be diverted during the works and letter is to be delivered to resident/farms disrupted by the work (along with surrounding areas) in due course.

The work will be carried out by Wright Civil Engineering Ltd on the behalf of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Boothferry Bridge reopened ahead of schedule

This week saw the re-opening of Boothferry Bridge to traffic following completion of the major maintenance by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC); this has been completed in less time than the advertised ten week closure.

The main contractor 'C Spencer Ltd' who in conjunction with specialist paint and mechanical & electrical sub-contractors must be congratulated on completing a varied and challenging scope of works within a tight working area and programme. Savings on certain activities also enabled additional works to be undertaken to prevent major disruption in the future.

Even though the available scheme funding was focused on the main structure improvements to the bridge approaches have been made at minimal cost with assistance provided both internally by ERYC Streetscene - and externally by the Humberside Probation Service in putting offenders to work.

Given the feedback the ERYC has received from users it is believed that the temporary transportation measures implemented to assist pedestrians and cyclists worked well during the closure period.

Further minor works to the bridge together with removal of fencing, welfare facilities and equipment will continue over the next week or two. Signing for the temporary traffic management measures introduced as a result of the closure are currently in the process of being removed which should be completed this week.

I would just like to thank people for your co-operation and that of the local community who have shown great patience given the duration of the closure.

A great job done by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council - below budget (so as to allow additional works to be carried out) and ahead of time.

Photograph by Bernard Bradley

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council Will Repair The Damaged Roads

First the flooding then the severe winter, there is little wonder that some of our roads, that were never designed for today's HGVs, are breaking up.

This is not a matter of filling in potholes, some sections of road are so damaged they will have to be rebuilt.

The cost of highway maintenance is funded through road tax, however the amount the Labour Government pays back to local authorities is much less than they take in taxation and not sufficient to maintain the roads.

The cost to repair and rebuild our damaged roads will be huge, and it will take time, but East Riding of Yorkshire Conservative councillors have made a pledge that we will undertake this work.

We are not waiting for the damage to be reported, the council has a crack team out every day filling potholes as they go around - I think this is very much a common sense, practical short term solution as we can not repair properly until the weather allows, and the full extent to the damage is known.

Expect to see road works accross the East Riding soon as the weather improves.