Why is weather sensitive work e.g. resurfacing, scheduled in the winter when it is quite likely work will overrun?
Maintenance work has to be scheduled throughout the year across the entire motorway and trunk road network. We aim to complete as much weather sensitive work as possible before December each year. However, there are many factors affecting the programming of works including the demands on road space, resources, budgets, and holiday periods, so it is inevitable that some work will have to be carried out during the winter. There are generally fewer vehicles on the road between September and April – fewer vehicles means a slightly longer working period per shift, so in theory work can be completed in fewer shifts. During the summer, particularly over weekends, much higher traffic volumes make greater demands on the network, thus reducing the available working period. Careful management means that overrunning in winter can be kept to a minimum. In addition, modern materials are far more robust giving better performance in cold temperatures. Even so, there are risks associated with winter ro
