Acclaim Driving Blog
At last, a chance to drive straight over roadworks
Published: May 5th 2009
At last, a chance to drive straight over roadworks
The days of unmanned road-works bringing chaos and misery to busy roads could soon become a thing of the past.
There’s little more frustrating than being stuck in a traffic jam to get round cones and cages which guard a hole or trench when the road workers have gone home, or simply aren’t there.
But now, in a moment of welcome clarity, engineers have come up with a simple solution to the problem - covering up the works with plates which will let motorists drive straight over them.
The bright yellow ‘pontoon plates’, made form reinforced plastic, are capable of withstanding up to 110 tons - two and a half times the weight of the heaviest vehicle on the road. Weighing five and half stone, they are lighter and stronger then steel plates they are used to cover roadworks trenches in the U.S.A., this will mean that a two-man team can move them on and off a hole off a hole in a few minutes without the need for machinery. It means that routes can be kept free-moving during the rush-hour as well as other times when trenches are not being worked on. The plates are 5ft long and 1.5ft wide, but are less than half an inch thick so will only cause a minor bump when motorists drive over them.
Thames Water, which has been responsible for a large number of roadworks because of its massive sewer replacement programme, is pioneering the scheme which will start on major routes in London.
If successful, it is likely to introduce the plates outside the capital and it hopes other utilities companies will also follow the scheme.
David Owens, of Thames Water, said: ‘We’re the first UK utility to use these new plates on such a scale and we hope it makes motorists lives easier.
These plates will enable us to return roads we’re working on back to use during rush-hour - before resuming our work when it quietens down.’
London Mayor Boris Johnson said: ‘None of us can escape the frustration of sitting at roadworks manned by an invisible army of workers. Thames Water’s agreement cover trenches that are not in use with plates will allow these roads to be used as normal.
‘If others follow suit we can keep people moving, not fuming’.
The number of roadworks has soared with the growth of the telecommunications industry and sewer replacements by water firms,. Companies often dig holes and leave them empty for days. This is sometimes for genuine engineering reasons, but also to maximise the use of staff and contractors. It is estimated that a third of holes in the road are not being worked on any given day.
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