Wednesday 04 December 2013
The Department receives approximately 2,000 road work applications from the general public, utilities and commercial organisations every year. These can vary from full closures to works undertaken with traffic signals, one-ways or as a road obstruction. The roadworks team is always seeking to balance the necessity and urgency of road works with the need to keep traffic circulating and to minimise disruption wherever possible, especially at busy times. Accordingly, the Department is continually reviewing and updating its approach and methods to co-ordinate road works as effectively as possible.
Last year the Department approved a revised 'new road works policy' on signing, notification, emergency works and the application process aimed at improving the efficient and effective planning of road works and subsequent implementation of traffic management measures. This document is available on www.gov.gg/Roadworks. It has proved to be a very useful reference point for applicants who are applying for road works and was introduced on the understanding that it is very much a working document and that it would continue to be reviewed on a regular basis. A review has recently been carried and the Department has made two more changes with the aim of further reducing the disruption to the motoring public. These will be introduced on 1 January 2014 and relate to reclosing the same road and the maximum number of planned major road closures.
Reclosing the same road
There is currently a policy specifying that a road works application should not be approved for the same road unless more than three months has elapsed since the last works were undertaken (Policy No. RWC19).
Whilst 3 months is considered to be an appropriate wait in relation to the provision of new utility services, service repairs, crane deliveries, removal of trees etc, the Department considers that there should be a much greater gap between more major utility related projects such as the installation of a new network or a replacement network. For this reason, the Department will be introducing the following policy.
RWC23 - A road works application involving the installation or replacement of a utility network should not be approved for the same road unless more than two years has elapsed since the last works, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Maximum number of planned major road closures
The Department currently has a policy (RWC10) which states that not more than 8 roads can be closed or have traffic management taking place at the same time in the top three categories of the Road Hierarchy.
Whilst this amount of planned closures was previously deemed to be acceptable from a traffic management perspective, the number of emergency closures being sanctioned by the Department is higher than previously anticipated. Accordingly, there is potential for up to 10 or 11 major roadwork schemes to occur at one time, particularly during the winter months when a higher amount of emergencies occur due to the cold, wet and windy conditions. From experience, if the number of major closures exceeds 9 or 10 then the road network becomes saturated leading to significant disruption on the roads. For this reason, the Department will now be lowering the maximum number of planned closures of major roads at any one time from 8 to 7.
As previously mentioned, these changes will come into effect from January 2014. The above policies do not prevent Department staff from using their discretion in relation to individual roadwork applications where exceptional circumstances prevail, but forms a general policy on which to help base informed and consistent decision making in respect of road works planning applications.
-ENDS-
Further information
If the contents and any quotes contained in this press release are to be used after 16 December 2013, please contact the Environment Department on the details below to check whether circumstances or events have changed.
