Roadworks, roadworks all around and not a workman to see

[Justin Smith]

I am sure we are all sick to death of roadworks, temporary traffic lights, and, worst of all, road closures.
Temporary lights are a bane of motorists' lives, particularly the modern proliferation of multi way lights which take forever to change. And why do they often have lights for roadworks which take up no more room than a legally parked vehicle ! We cannot do much about all that, it's just the relentless march of H&S overkill, but there may be something else.....

The worst of the frustration is, of course, being held up when nobody is even working on the site, and that is more often the case than not.
I have been doing a bit of research on all of this and it seems to me the problem is the way the licence system (for a road closure) works. It costs little more for a long licence than for a short one. 
This is madness. 
Surely the licences should be charged by the day, and at a rate high enough to motivate the utility company to get the job done ASAP ?
I accept the extra cost would put up utility bills slightly, but it's just tax really so any money would at least be going into public coffers. 
The real benefit would be less time wasted by literally millions of motorists, which, at even just the minimum wage rate, must be Billions of pounds a year.

Is it worth starting a petition to put before parliament ?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Well one can use

 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions

5 people need to support a petition before it will be published

10,000 signatures are needed to generate a response from government - which may be just a single sentence

100,000 signatures are needed before government will consider a debate in parliament.

[Bper]

I have never understood why in the planning stage of road works  utility services are not instructed to install or upgrade there systems to both avoid the roads keep being dug up time after time and the endless wait and disruption this causes to motorists.  There are many states in the USA require this before any roads are dug up and it works so why not here.👍

[Rhymes with Paris]

To be fair, once you have been on the other side of road closures and seen some of the antics of drivers ignoring them,it provides a different viewpoint.

The annoyance of being held up when there is no visible work going on is understandable.

However if pauses in the works are necessary, the cost of removing traffic management and reinstating it, and disruption to the programme of works is not covered for the contractor.

For example,on one of the many resurfacing contracts on the A1, several cars and one HGV drove around the road closure into the works.

There had been deep road planing, and some removal of road base where it had deteriorated, resulting in some areas being 600mm deep.

One of the cars finished up in one of the holes injuring the driver, maybe he couldn't read.

The HGV driver insisted he had to get to the BP station because that's where his fuel card was valid.

There were workmen on site, maybe not visible from the road closure signs, but still there, and subject to danger from these irresponsible drivers.

Plus the amount of verbal abuse, and in some cases,threats of violence from the rule breakers to the staff on site was unbelievable, anyone in a yellow jacket was fair game,as though they were personally responsible for government and highway departments decisions to necessarily close roads for repair.

 

[Justin Smith]

16 minutes ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

the amount of verbal abuse, and in some cases,threats of violence from the rule breakers to the staff on site was unbelievable, anyone in a yellow jacket was fair game,as though they were personally responsible for government and highway departments decisions to necessarily close roads for repair.

Any driver abusing staff working is a cretin, quite apart from anything the workmen on site trying to complete the job are to be encouraged !
The fact the road is closed (or temporary lights up) for too long is not the fault of the workmen, it's their managers and, even more so, the system.

I have done quite a bit of research on this and basically the utility companies often make no particular effort to get a job finished, frequently this is to the exasperation of the council as they are getting it in the ear from their voters. As an aside I had it hinted to me that the utility companies often use the "emergency job" get out to force a road closure through even when the council are sometimes sceptical about if it even is an emergency!
The utility companies often employ different gangs to shut the road and put up "traffic management", they another to dig the hole, sometimes yet another to actually do the job, yet another to fill it in again, and another still to come back and remove the "traffic management" and finally reopen the road. Thus explaining why it is not uncommon to see a road still closed when the job has actually been fully completed!
They employ that totally inefficient system (as regards how long the road is closed) because it's easier and cheaper for them. Well it shouldn't be, the inconvenienced motorists time should be accounted for, and the licence system changed to discourage roads being shut for any longer than absolutely necessary. And that should also include "emergency repairs", they can circumvent the licence system for an emergency closure (if it is an emergency) but they still have to pay for it by the day, and at a sufficient amount to "motivate" them....

[Bper]

What I also love is after all the work is finished they often leave the diverted signs up with sandbags to hold them down and years later they are still there.

Surely someone who had worked on this or authorised the work must have seen this and thought I was involved in that when I was 25 years old, blimey now I'm 60 I think I should look to get that taken away now.😅

It can't be in the interest of contractors to delay the work's as they have quoted for this or unless either unforeseen works crop up or they have overpriced the works. Who knows how the tender process is handled. 

 

[Justin Smith]

1 hour ago, Bper said:

It can't be in the interest of contractors to delay the work's as they have quoted for this or unless either unforeseen works crop up or they have overpriced the works. Who knows how the tender process is handled. 

I didn't say they deliberately delay work, what I said is they do not prioritise finishing and getting road open or the temporary lights removed. Instead they prioritise efficient use of their men and machinery and/or simplfying their works systems (by having different gangs to do each part of the work). As the system is set up at the moment you cannot blame them because they are in business to make a profit. But that just proves the system needs changing so the utility companies have to take into account the cost of the licence of keeping that road closed each day, or even, even better, each hour.

[Roy124]

I think the divert frames with sandbags might be a different contractor.   We had about 6 scattered around our village.   I spoke with the Highways County Councillor who said 'it's difficult'.  Simply they didn't know who owned them.

I found a company name on one, reported it and it was removed.

Another sign was placed by the next Counties Highways as it related to roadworks in their area.

Yes, it's difficult. 

 

[Bper]

1 hour ago, Justin Smith said:

I didn't say they deliberately delay work, what I said is they do not prioritise finishing and getting road open or the temporary lights removed. Instead they prioritise efficient use of their men and machinery and/or simplfying their works systems (by having different gangs to do each part of the work). As the system is set up at the moment you cannot blame them because they are in business to make a profit. But that just proves the system needs changing so the utility companies have to take into account the cost of the licence of keeping that road closed each day, or even, even better, each hour.

Hi Justin, I wasn't saying that you inferred that they deliberately delay the work, I was saying that it is not in the intererest of the contractor to delay the works. Many people who do not understand the process of contracting think it is the workforce who cause this problem and are responsible for delaying the finish of the works.

The answer is with how these works are administered from start to finish and who is employed to do the work and oversee the project from start to finish.

 

[Justin Smith]

2 hours ago, Bper said:

The answer is with how these works are administered from start to finish and who is employed to do the work and oversee the project from start to finish.

I agree completely.