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15
Feb
Why are some local roadworks worked on through the night, but others last for ages?
There appears to be no end to roadworks – they're here to stay, in one place or another. Whether it’s the council’s resurfacing work in Ripon city centre or Northern Powergrid slicing Harrogate’s York Place down to a single lane of traffic, there’s no dodging the diggers for long.
But while some roadwork schemes can seem half-forgotten by the people who start them, others seem to attract special attention. One hole in the ground can be deserted while just around the corner on a side street, men can be seen working around the clock under floodlights.
So, what’s the rationale here? How do the council and utility companies decide what resources will go where, and how intensively roadworks will be treated?
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It turns out several factors come into play. According to a spokesperson for Openreach, the company that lays the fibre broadband network, safety and the prevention of disruption are key issues.
They said:
If the problem poses a significant risk to safety, infrastructure, or service continuity, immediate action is often required regardless of the time.
High-impact issues affecting a large number of customers or critical services may necessitate after-hours work to minimise downtime and disruption.
They added that some tasks may be too hazardous to perform at night, or during the day, or in adverse weather conditions.
Sometimes, Openreach has to coordinate with other utility companies, which might only be available during specific hours.
The spokesperson said:
For example, if one of our street cabinets is damaged in a vehicle collision, we have to notify the local power company (all our cabs are powered) as we may need to get them to switch off the power and carry out safety checks before our engineers can start work.
Sometimes, we might only be given permission to work at night to avoid disruption to road-users.
Some roadworks can seem to last forever
Similar considerations guide the other utility providers. Sometimes, the water, gas or electricity supply needs to be cut off, so the company will work at night to minimise any inconvenience to residents during the day.
The duration of any roadworks is also affected by a variety of factors. A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water told us:
We can’t speak to work outside of the water and wastewater network, but there are a number of factors that might influence how long a job takes.
For emergency repairs: the depth of our network underground and how much excavation is required; whether there are other utilities or authorities’ assets involved; how complex the fault, and therefore the repair, is.
The majority of our network is buried underground, so the scope of repairs can change once we dig down and see the asset that requires work.
The time taken for pipe fixes to cure, or for tarmac to cure (this is often one of the reasons why sites can look like they aren't being worked on – colleagues can't do anything whilst waiting for this).
All the companies we contacted – Yorkshire Water, Openreach, Nothern Gas Networks, Northern Powergrid – and North Yorkshire Council said that their workers are sometimes subjected to verbal abuse by irate motorists.
The Yorkshire Water spokesperson even suggested that some had taken matters into their own hands by rearranging temporary street furniture. They said:
[People can help by] following the guidance on signage and not moving the signage out of the way.
We will reopen roads as soon as it is safe to do so – barriers are in place to protect road-users, pedestrians and our on-site teams.
The Northern Gas Networks spokesperson said there was a reason why some sites can look abandoned:
We appreciate that if you pass by a site and can’t see anyone working, it might be frustrating, but the work is still ongoing.
We may be busy carrying out a different section of the job, or monitoring it remotely.
In the meantime, The Openreach spokesperson appealed for understanding. They said:
[People can help by] just showing patience with traffic management, driving past slowly and safely and following any pedestrian redirection signage.
Asked about these issues, Cllr Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire Council's executive member for highways and transport, told the Stray Ferret that the council always schedules its own roadworks to limit disruption, avoiding peak times and full road closures where possible.
He also said the council was acting to mitigate the problems:
We are [...] taking the toughest possible approach to manage works by third parties, such as utility companies, with the introduction of the first lane rental scheme in the North of England.
Building on our existing permit scheme, we will introduce a £2,500 daily charge for peak-time works on the busiest and most sensitive routes, including routes in Harrogate.
This will incentivise third parties to work outside of peak hours, to work to schedule and to cooperate with each other.
During all works, we ask the public for their patience and co-operation, and to plan their journeys and follow diversions. We urge against removing barriers and to comply with temporary speed limits to ensure the safety of the public and our staff.
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