There can be a number of reasons for crews standing:
- Weather conditions. Not just the wet but also temperatures and visibility can delay works from proceeding as planned.
- Delays with materials being delivered to site. Hot road materials are often required with high demand on the quarries which are few and far between particularly in the north of the county.
- Breaks. Our crews take their breaks when convenient in relation to the works being undertaken and not at specified times. They don’t generally return to a depot as this wastes time. They usually take their breaks on site or park off the highway in a layby so as not to disrupt the flow of traffic unnecessarily.
- Waiting whilst Temporary Traffic Management is being established.
- Waiting for traffic flows to go down in order to set-up traffic management.
- We often use a “gateman” at a road closure who might appear to be standing around. They are there to direct traffic and allow local residents to gain access to their properties.
Wherever possible and safe to do so, our crews have been instructed to make use of their time if they incur delays by carrying out other minor highway maintenance work such as cleaning signs, removing debris off tops of gully gratings or general cleaning of other road drainage features.