Government plans to restrict the length of motorway roadworks have been given a warm reception by haulage bosses.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has called upon Highways England to prevent motorists from being caught up in lengthy queues by imposing new rules on contractors on the length of roadworks and ensuring better communication with road users so they can plan alternative routes. Roadworks like the18 mile stretch between junctions 28 and 31 of the M1 near Chesterfield, currently the UK’s longest stretch of motorway roadworks, could be a thing of the past if plans to introduce a maximum two-mile length for roadworks are introduced. With the Government having already announced a £15.2 billion scheme to improve the UK road network over the next five years it is feared by transport industry that a failure to regulate the issue properly could cost lives as well as money.
“Long stretches of roadworks create a series of problems for our members, it’s an issue that they constantly complain about“, said Malcolm Bingham of the Freight Transport Association. “We know that for the largest vehicles it costs £1 for every minute they’re stuck in traffic. Limiting roadworks to two-mile stretches could considerably reduce the time they’re delayed. Nose-to-tail shunts are more prevalent in queues of slow moving traffic too, so hopefully this will also cut the number of accidents in roadworks.”
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