New safer road workzone practices

In the UK, the construction business Connect Plus Services is implementing new practices that reduce the need for crossings of live carriageways. These practices are expected to save the lives of road construction workers. Connect Plus Services is the company that has the contract to maintain, operate and upgrade the M25 motorway around London over a 30-year period. The contract is carried out on behalf of the Highways Agency. The firm has developed a new method of managing traffic approaching road construc
September 15, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
In the UK, the construction business Connect Plus Services is implementing new practices that reduce the need for crossings of live carriageways. These practices are expected to save the lives of road construction workers. Connect Plus Services is the company that has the contract to maintain, operate and upgrade the M25 motorway around London over a 30-year period. The contract is carried out on behalf of the 2309 Highways Agency. The firm has developed a new method of managing traffic approaching road construction zones, with the aim of saving the lives of site personnel. The method, which has now been approved for use on the English motorway network, will prevent millions of crossings being made by site personnel across busy live carriageways in front of traffic travelling at fast speeds.

Road maintenance is one of the riskiest employment sectors to work. Trials carried out by Connect Plus Services, with the support of RoWSaF (an industry body which develops ways to improve the health, safety and welfare of our road workers), the Highways Agency and the Transport Research Laboratory (777 TRL), have shown that improved overhead electronic signage and nearside signage removes the need for temporary central reservation signage as a way of encouraging motorists to slow down on the approach to roadworks. The method was piloted and implemented on over 1,000km of the network over a two-year period by Connect Plus Services, (a joint venture partnership between 1146 Balfour Beatty, 3005 Atkins and 2643 Egis Roads SA), with support from 1530 Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald, and has already saved over a million crossings by personnel.

The removal of the need to place central carriageway signage across live carriageways applies to carriageways of over three lanes and will be a major contributor to the Highways Agency’s target of eliminating all live carriageway crossings by roadworkers by December 2014.
Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The radically changing face of UK highways management
    May 14, 2014
    The British Government policy paper ‘Action for Roads: A network for the 21st century’ sets out radical change to the strategic way roads are funded and managed – including plans to turn the Highways Agency into a Government-owned company and a pledge to invest over €33.4 billion (£28 billion) in roads maintenance between 2015 and 2020. Jenny Moten, Highways Agency divisional director for Network Services, gave a keynote presentation on the new approach to strategic highways management during the Road Safet
    Read More
  • Atkins wins Texas Department of Transportation contract
    June 18, 2018
    Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, has been awarded a statewide procurement engineering contract from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The deal will see Atkins assisting TxDOT with alternative delivery procurement needs throughout the state. “Our role is to review and analyse the approaches outlined in submittals from design-builders or others to ensure they can commit to and meet TxDOT’s alternative delivery expectations,” said Wes Burford, senior project director in SNC-Lavalin’s
    Read More
  • Faithful+Gould in England highway efficiencies
    July 8, 2022
    Faithful+Gould - a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group - will deal with issues around safety, congestion and road capacity.
    Read More
  • Kosovo's award-winning green highway construction
    March 20, 2012
    A new highway is proving an economic lifeline for the tiny country of Kosovo – Mike Woof reports. Road projects in Europe rarely meet such widespread public approval and support as the new Route 7 highway being built in the new Balkan state of Kosovo. The first sections of the new road opened to traffic in November 2011, with locals turning out in large numbers to celebrate the event. The official opening was carried out by the country’s prime minister Hashim Thaçi, president Atifete Jahjaga, and members of
    Read More

Highlighted Content