Traffic remains switched to the permanent junction layout.
We are experiencing some problems with traffic clearing the junction at times as other contractors are working with restricted lanes on West Street which has a knock on of limiting traffic flow through our works at Hunger Hill, twin sails bridge is also closed again until 8th March which again does not help traffic clear.
Several folks have commented that the push button pedestrian crossings do not change to green. They actually do but owing to the traffic phasing it can mean needing to wait what seems like a long time for them to change and give a safe crossing period.
The Temporary traffic signals at Asda continue to operate. The lights are currently working with vehicle activated sensors (VAS), until we carry out final surfacing across the whole junction the VAS system will remain active. Once the surfacing is complete signals loops will be installed beneath the surface which sense vehicle presence and movement. This system will then work in unison with the Hunger Hill lights to improve traffic flows through the junctions.
We have another road planer visiting tomorrow 26th Feb to plane out kerb lines onto West Street and at the Asda junction where we have space to use it. This method saves a lot of mechanical breakout, it’s faster and quieter and leaves us a material we can re-use on site as backfill. As a matter of interest all the material we have excavated on site has been taken away and is crushed and blended further in a nearby quarry to form a re-usable hardcore fill material that is then sold back to us and others. This saves us money as it’s far cheaper than sending material to land fill and better for the environment in many ways as it saves on quarrying natural stone and obvious recycling benefits.
Works on the Asda junction now ramp up with drainage, ducting and kerbing planned over the next few weeks.
We are expecting a visit from our tarmac contractor from 27th Feb for a few days. We will lay a temporary surface on Dear Hay Lane enabling us to re-open it to traffic hopefully around 4th March. The pavements will be surfaced partly with a permanent surface but some stretches may have a coarse temporary surface as there are still a few lamp columns and signs to dig holes for before the final finished surface. In April we will need to close Dear Hay Lane again for about 2 weeks to remove the old surface and lay a new asphalt layer which will be pattern imprinted and coloured. This needs consistently warm weather hence we have to wait until April.
On Town Gate Bridge central reservation and the frontage around the old Animal offices we have installed drainage and electrical ducts. Next operation is kerb laying and eventually tactile pavior’s to mark the new pedestrian crossing points.
