MAINTAINING A CONTINUOUS FLOW

Surrey county council are considering methods of carrying out a continuous maintenance commitment to cover its responsibility for a total of 80 miles of motorway when the M25 is completed. The author uses experience gained from maintenance on the M3 motorway to discuss the pre-contract decisions that need to be made as well as the policing arrangements. The police should be involved in very detailed investigations which have to be made into possible alternative routes. On the M3 work, the police set up a self contained incident centre on site which was manned 24 hours a day and acted as a base for the breakdown recovery and sign crews. Separate contracts were given for vehicle recovery and traffic engineering; the sub-contractor for recovery was required to be a member of the Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators. Temporary site access for contractors vehicles was from adjacent roads. Major motorway maintenance requires consultation, discussion and agreement of temporary traffic arrangements; the work is different from either routine maintenance or new construction. (TRRL)