You may have seen in the press that proposals to launch a major crackdown on disruption caused by roadworks on local roads, and the start of 7-day working, are being considered by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.
Councils and utility companies could face paying up to £5,000 a day if roadworks needlessly inconvenience motorists, by being left in place over a weekend when no one is actually working.
Similar charges could also be levied on those who leave temporary traffic lights in place after work has been completed, again on local ‘A’ roads.
This means that workers on ‘A’ roads, which are managed by councils, will either have to carry on with the project over the weekend – so the roadworks are finished sooner - or lift the works until the onsite-team gets going again.
The RAC’s chief engineer, David Bizley, commented: “Nearly a fifth of motorists surveyed for the last RAC Report on Motoring told us that better maintenance of local roads is their number one priority for council investment, so there is an acceptance by drivers that roadworks are a fact of life.
“At the same time, the sight of roadworks left unattended while sitting in a traffic jam or when driving at the weekend is a real bugbear of motorists, so these proposals to encourage works to be completed more quickly is likely to be well received.
Fingers crossed that these new plans could see our roads getting fixed more quickly and the problem of congestion reduced. If you want to check out what roadworks are planned in your area then check out http://roadworks.org/.
