Despite
the very hot weather disrupting some road
resurfacing schedules,
Transport for Buckinghamshire’s
2018-19 programme of road improvements has been well under way since April,
with 10-15 road sites being treated every
week. The total budget
for long term improvements across the whole Buckinghamshire network is almost
£30 million for this financial year – this budget is to primarily cover road
and footway resurfacing, but also covers investment in bridges, streetlights,
drainage, safety schemes, parking, safety barriers and traffic signals.
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| Road resurfacing in action during the 2017-18 programme. Photo: Jerry Lake |
TfB
is responsible for over 3200km of roads across the county, as well as the
bridges, footways, streetlights, traffic signals, bollards and gullies that
keep the highway functional and safe.
Maintaining this valuable and vast asset requires long term, strategic
planning that balances day-to-day maintenance with longer term
improvements.
“Buckinghamshire is in a uniquely challenging position; we’re a rural county yet close to London, with the smallest county road network – in kilometres – of the whole country, yet with one of the highest volumes of traffic nationally. That high volume of traffic, more and more of which is larger goods vehicles, puts a massive strain on road surfaces. The Council is committed to maintaining the roads to a safe and serviceable level, which is why we’ve put more money into road maintenance this year, and I’m proud of how hard the whole TfB team is working to make real long term improvements.”
Road and footway resurfacing 2018-19
The most high profile element of our
work is road and footway resurfacing, which is also the biggest part of our
capital spend, with over £20 million budgeted for it across the county this
year. Over 100 road resurfacing and 18
footway resurfacing schemes are planned for 2018-19, as part of a works
programme designed by TfB in collaboration with local County Councillors. When
roads have been chosen for resurfacing they are prioritised and the appropriate
treatment is chosen – there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to road
surfacing, with several options available to extend the life of a road. Every
Friday we release a programme of works around the county for the upcoming week,
which can be found here
on the County Council website, as can the details about the different types of road surfacing we use. Since April
eight major surfacing schemes have already been completed in Buckinghamshire,
equating to an area of over 16,000m².
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| Road surfacing in action by TfB teams, photo: Jerry Lake |
Structures, 2018-19
This year in excess of £1 million will be invested on improvements to various
structures across the county, including bridges, subways, parapets, and
monuments. Structures work is undertaken by a combination of in-house
structures operatives and skilled contractors, particularly for the works
requiring specialist knowledge such as for listed historic structures, such as
Marlow Obelisk, which will undergo renovation works later in the summer. Other structures projects for the coming year
include a footbridge in Buckingham and a monument in Thornborough.
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| Structures work in action |
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| Buckingham's London Road footbridge, which is undergoing refurbishment by TfB during 2018-19. Photo: Beth Mills |
Drainage, 2018-19
The countywide drainage improvement programme creates sustainable, long term solutions to some of the more significant drainage issues across the county. Where road surface water and ineffective drainage are an issue a solution is designed and built by a team of drainage specialists – in general the work will involve installing new pipework and soakaways, improving ditch capacity, and refurbishing existing drainage systems to increase capacity. £1 million has been allocated for the 2018-19 drainage programme, and will include over 30 sites, eleven of which have already been completed. You can read about how drainage improvements were made in Buckinghamshire last year here, and see the full list of planned works for 2018-19 on the County Council website.Streetlighting, 2018-19
‘Street lighting’ actually refers not
just to conventional streetlights but to all road side illuminated signs and
bollards, as well as lighting in subways, and all the associated cabling. This
year over £2.5
million
will be spent on major street lighting works, which includes replacing
over 500 streetlight columns,
and continuing the countywide programme to replace all old style sodium lamps
with more modern and efficient LED units. Over the last six years almost 15,000 LED conversions have
been completed in Buckinghamshire, with over 3,200 old style lanterns expected
to be replaced this coming year.
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| Streetlighting works, photo: Matt Fowler |
Other schemes
- TfB also carries out local, smaller schemes on our roads and streets. These are developed with, and often funded by, third parties such as parishes and Local Area Forums (LAFs). Over 200 of these schemes are planned for 2018-19, including pedestrian crossings and cycle ways.
- Over £300,000 will be invested in countywide network safety schemes whilst a further £879,000 from the DfT Safer Roads allocation, will enable a number of safety schemes to be carried out along the A40 between West Wycombe and Stokenchurch
- In excess of £400,000 has been allocated for the upgrade of traffic signal infrastructure across the county
- £250,000 is to be invested on safety fencing improvements across the county
- A further £500,000+ has also been budgeted this year for locally organised projects such as traffic calming and other highway safety improvements.
More information about what TfB does can be found on the county council website, and by following TfB on Twitter and Facebook.
Transport for Buckinghamshire thanks George Green resident Jerry Lake, for his wonderful resurfacing photographs.
