Why are roadworks so badly managed?
Discussion
How do the likes of Balfour Beatty get away with it?
Miles and miles of otherwise useful carriageway coned off, 50mph speed limits to “protect” a non-existent workforce, apparently abandoned plant littering the side of the road......and months and bloody months to do a few weeks’ work. And on the one day of the year when the contractors do turn up they spend their day asleep in a JCB, sitting in a “Welfare Unit” or leaning on something checking their phone. Why?
Having endured nearly five years of the M3 ceasing to exist as a strategic route while it was supposedly “upgraded”, now it’s the turn of the M4 from Reading to Heathrow. Already there’s a speed restriction in place, already there are miles of cones and yet here we are, a month in and sweet fuxk all has actually happened apart from the white lines erased. Wow, exceptional effort boys.
Compare that to say the rail industry. Small armies descend on the line and go at it hammer and tongs until the job’s done with huge financial penalties if things are finished late.
During the M3 works the most people I ever saw on site was fifteen. One person per mile of worksite. Wow, just wow.
And then it overan by nine months while Thales pissed about with “testing and calibration” despite Higjways England insisting the project was finished.
Anyone in highway engineering able to shed light on why that industry is such an apparent shambles and wouldn’t know a hard day’s graft if it came along and booted it up the arse?
Miles and miles of otherwise useful carriageway coned off, 50mph speed limits to “protect” a non-existent workforce, apparently abandoned plant littering the side of the road......and months and bloody months to do a few weeks’ work. And on the one day of the year when the contractors do turn up they spend their day asleep in a JCB, sitting in a “Welfare Unit” or leaning on something checking their phone. Why?
Having endured nearly five years of the M3 ceasing to exist as a strategic route while it was supposedly “upgraded”, now it’s the turn of the M4 from Reading to Heathrow. Already there’s a speed restriction in place, already there are miles of cones and yet here we are, a month in and sweet fuxk all has actually happened apart from the white lines erased. Wow, exceptional effort boys.
Compare that to say the rail industry. Small armies descend on the line and go at it hammer and tongs until the job’s done with huge financial penalties if things are finished late.
During the M3 works the most people I ever saw on site was fifteen. One person per mile of worksite. Wow, just wow.
And then it overan by nine months while Thales pissed about with “testing and calibration” despite Higjways England insisting the project was finished.
Anyone in highway engineering able to shed light on why that industry is such an apparent shambles and wouldn’t know a hard day’s graft if it came along and booted it up the arse?
Taita said:
Economic impact of tens of thousands a day being delayed by 10mins,a weeks, a year etc must be huge.
Consider the human cost.For five years of the M3 Arse-Elbow Festival my commute doubled to approximately two hours. That’s roughly 10% of my working life f
ked up.And for what? To turn a congested three lane motorway in to a congested four lane death trap with no hard shoulder.
Worth every second of rattling along the A30.
Best bit was when the M3 was closed and then the A30 also shut at Sunningdale while they messed around with the level crossing.
Genius bit of planning that was. On that occasion I went full Victor Meldrew and actually phoned the Highways England (Not Really Any) Help line.
The lack of any accountability was breathtaking. Any roadworks or closures on the M3 diversion route weren’t the responsibility of the M3 project. They weren’t even made aware of any associated works.
As long as all the traffic was shovelled off the strategic route, that was fine.
Whether or not the alternative route was viable simple wasn’t seen as an issue.
Oh and let’s not forget the classic “works being suspended for two weeks over the Christmas holiday period to alleviate congestion” which actually means “We’re the workforce and there’s no way on Earth we’re not having a fortnight off at Christmas. Think of the children.
Anyway, wotcha gonna do? Move all those cones yourself? Drive the plant out of the way? Good luck with that. We’ve got all the keys”
It’s not difficult to imagine the planning meeting with a meek local government pencilneck one side of the desk “in charge” of the project and Big Dave in his greasy high vis and battered hard hat that also doubles as a football, arms folded, pretending not to smirk as he lays out the terms on which his boys will do the job.....
“Yep, two week shut down at Christmas. Industry standard innit?
And Easter. Oh and obviously Ramadan, Diwali, Eid and the Summer Solstice.
And we demand a day per week for safety training. And we don’t do nights. Or weekends. Or night at weekends.
Or more than four hours a day to include travelling time from Nottingham to Portsmouth.
And free burgers
And four weeks annual leave”
Anyway, wotcha gonna do? Move all those cones yourself? Drive the plant out of the way? Good luck with that. We’ve got all the keys”
It’s not difficult to imagine the planning meeting with a meek local government pencilneck one side of the desk “in charge” of the project and Big Dave in his greasy high vis and battered hard hat that also doubles as a football, arms folded, pretending not to smirk as he lays out the terms on which his boys will do the job.....
“Yep, two week shut down at Christmas. Industry standard innit?
And Easter. Oh and obviously Ramadan, Diwali, Eid and the Summer Solstice.
And we demand a day per week for safety training. And we don’t do nights. Or weekends. Or night at weekends.
Or more than four hours a day to include travelling time from Nottingham to Portsmouth.
And free burgers
And four weeks annual leave”
V10leptoquark said:
Lots of valid stuff about Safety, training and compliance
And I say, bks.The rail, aviation and maritime transport industries are even more heavily regulated.
I’ve worked in the first two and loafing around doing bugger all, dragging jobs out and generally making a pigs ear of it in the end anyway simply isn’t tolerated.
I guess overall it’s the classic builders ruse of starting a job with much ceremony and lofty promises only for them to bugger off half way through and trap another client so they’ve got a steady stream of work.
Doesn’t matter whether it’s a loft conversion or a motorway upgrade.
Funnily enough I’ve never, ever met anyone who proudly claimed to be in road construction.
Doesn’t matter whether it’s a loft conversion or a motorway upgrade.
Funnily enough I’ve never, ever met anyone who proudly claimed to be in road construction.
V10leptoquark said:
A lot of the works can only take place when traffic volumes are low enough to be deemed 'safe levels'.
Otherwise congestion builds up and you get people doing wierd stuff in frustration.
So the majority of works now only takes place during night time hours and even then it can be quite restrictive on which hours can be worked due to some areas being that busy that it means traffic volumes don't get to 'safe levels' until the small hours of the morning.
So people get frustrated because little progress appears to be being made resulting in congestion, and the answer is to do even less?Otherwise congestion builds up and you get people doing wierd stuff in frustration.
So the majority of works now only takes place during night time hours and even then it can be quite restrictive on which hours can be worked due to some areas being that busy that it means traffic volumes don't get to 'safe levels' until the small hours of the morning.
Grrrrrreat.
On a lighter note does anyone else remember when Highways England trialled these on the M3 during the upgrade work?
The follow-on Twitter feed asking for feedback from drivers saw them removed within a week following a deluge of responses along the line of “Tell your dad to get a fking move on then” .
The follow-on Twitter feed asking for feedback from drivers saw them removed within a week following a deluge of responses along the line of “Tell your dad to get a f
king move on then” .Haltamer said:
For everyone that thinks a dictatorship, or army of slaves is needed to complete major works:
https://youtu.be/btOE0rcKDC0
The Netherlands is neither; And they manage! - Road tax may be high, but I'd happily pay £500PA for Dutch road standards across the country.
Jesus Christ. The work-shy oafs at Balfour Beatty need to be shown that every morning.https://youtu.be/btOE0rcKDC0
The Netherlands is neither; And they manage! - Road tax may be high, but I'd happily pay £500PA for Dutch road standards across the country.
The finished road surface didn’t show any sign that it had ever been disturbed, and the workforce had what looked like some pretty dreadful weather to contend with.
Venturist said:
I’m sure the constructors would like nothing more than the positive PR of being able to turn around works that quickly.
Im not sure PR is a concern.Roads will always need work, local govt has no bite in spurring things along so contractors know they can dawdle along at their own sweet pace safe in the knowledge that once one drawn out project has finished there’ll be another mug in a highways department somewhere else ready to sign a contract.
Zarco said:
That is quite different to widening miles of motorway as I am sure people appreciate (or not?).
The infrastructure being worked may differ but look at the work ethic.In the video there are multiple assets working all aspects absolutely non-stop until the job is complete, regardless of what appears to be a minor monsoon at one point.
So, on to the M4.....
The bit I use most often, from the M25 to the Heston where the works end has had a 50mph limit laid down, Lane 1 is now coned off for no apparent reason (no ground work has been done, no plant or machinery pre-positioned, no material stockpiled for later....literally nothing has been done with the ring fenced area) and the white lines on the M25 feed have been erased.
Not a bad effort for two months I think you’ll agree?
Those ultimately paying the bill are also those inconvenienced by the apparent lack of any urgency in completing a project.
As I hinted earlier, it requires a different work ethic where “best” doesn’t equal “expensive” and affordable doesn’t mean “crap”.
There is more than just the financial cost but that needs a totally different attitude from contractors where they actually want to get the job done and to an impressively high standard of which they can be proud.
The current situation just seems to be a clusterfk of contracts awarded by default to slack companies with no genuine urgency or pride in anything they do and where convenience to the travelling public is at the absolute bottom of the list.
As I hinted earlier, it requires a different work ethic where “best” doesn’t equal “expensive” and affordable doesn’t mean “crap”.
There is more than just the financial cost but that needs a totally different attitude from contractors where they actually want to get the job done and to an impressively high standard of which they can be proud.
The current situation just seems to be a clusterf
k of contracts awarded by default to slack companies with no genuine urgency or pride in anything they do and where convenience to the travelling public is at the absolute bottom of the list.V10leptoquark said:
So its not about drivers being frustrated by "little progress", its about the delayed journey, which results if road works take place during hours that lead to congestion.
I disagree. Although a delayed journey is in itself frustrating, it’s the repeated delays that go on day after day for years that frustrate people.The M4 near Heathrow......As mentioned it’s already it’s down to 50mph for two months now and nothing has been started.
That is where the frustration comes from. People will tolerate inconvenience where it’s plainly for a reason and everything is being done to minimise the disruption, but with the vast majority of roadworks there just isn’t anything being done for weeks on end.
And so it staggers on......
Epic fuxkwittery on that favourite cake & arse party of Highways England known as the M3.
Over the weekend some overpaid underworked contractors needed to polish the cats eyes or straighten the white lines or something on the M3 exit to the M25(S) which, obviously, meant closing lots of motorway. Yay!
So, on the approach to the junction, the M3 is four lanes wide.
L1&2 go towards the M25(North), lane 3 splits and heads towards the M25(South) and also continues as the M3 towards London along with Lane 4.
So which bit was closed the most to allow work to take place on the M25(S) entry slip?
That’s right.
Lanes 1&2, the feeder lanes for the M25(N).
Everything got shovelled in to Lanes 3&4, just to be chicaned back in to Lanes 1&2 on reaching the actual closure.
Not only that, the works only blocked 25% of the lanes yet the dullards feel the need to close 50% of the lanes on the approach.
Grade A bellends who couldn’t empty a welly full of water if the instruction were written on the sole.
Epic fuxkwittery on that favourite cake & arse party of Highways England known as the M3.
Over the weekend some overpaid underworked contractors needed to polish the cats eyes or straighten the white lines or something on the M3 exit to the M25(S) which, obviously, meant closing lots of motorway. Yay!
So, on the approach to the junction, the M3 is four lanes wide.
L1&2 go towards the M25(North), lane 3 splits and heads towards the M25(South) and also continues as the M3 towards London along with Lane 4.
So which bit was closed the most to allow work to take place on the M25(S) entry slip?
That’s right.
Lanes 1&2, the feeder lanes for the M25(N).
Everything got shovelled in to Lanes 3&4, just to be chicaned back in to Lanes 1&2 on reaching the actual closure.
Not only that, the works only blocked 25% of the lanes yet the dullards feel the need to close 50% of the lanes on the approach.
Grade A bellends who couldn’t empty a welly full of water if the instruction were written on the sole.
Vlad the Imp said:
Putting a Lane 3 closure on with live traffic on either side would be suicidally dangerous for the traffic management crew
Hate to break it to you but that happened anyway 
Not only that....
Due to the M3/M25 interchange being a sea of orange over the weekend the cone boundaries just blurred in to one and it was simply impossible to see where the gap to cross back on to lanes 1&2 towards M25(N) actually was. Yeah, really “safe” that was.
Still, you guys know waaaaaaaay better, obviously.
Vlad the Imp said:
As for the idea that contractors are underworked and overpaid, I suggest looking at the public accounts of some of them. Big turnover, very small margins and regularly going bust is a more accurate description.
Fair play.Those welfare units can’t be cheap to run and god knows there are enough of them.
Renting JCBs just to let them sit idle must cost a bit too.
Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff