Road resurfacing work is set to resume on the Isle of Wight again, towards the end of May, following a review of Government guidance and staff safety training.
Island Roads, in consultation with the Isle of Wight Council, have continued with their highway service throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak providing essential maintenance to keep the road network safe for vehicles and pedestrians including NHS staff and emergency services.
Work has included repair to road defects, keeping the streets clean and bins emptied, cutting the grass to ensure visibility at junctions and keeping traffic signals and streetlights working as well as continuing work on the St Mary’s junction improvement scheme. This week a programme of work to improve skid resistance at key sites also got underway.
Road resurfacing, which is normally carried out from March each year, was suspended owing to the larger crew sizes required to complete this work and concerns about the supply of materials. But following assurances on materials supply, further staff training and risk assessments, and in line with latest Government advice, resurfacing work will resume from 26th May 2020.
All staff have full construction PPE and will be working within social distancing guidelines wherever possible.
Keith Gourlay, Island Roads Construction Manager said:
“This year’s programme of carriageway improvement work will see more residential streets being completed, however I want to reassure residents that our crews will be maintaining a distance from the public as they complete this work and we ask that residents do the same for our crews.
“As we have before, we will be carrying out letter drops in advance of any work. These contain essential information including for example, what to do regarding waste collections and removing vehicles from the highway. We also ask residents to keep a close eye on our yellow information boards which will appear on site ahead of any works as the timing of works can be affected by external factors such as inclement weather. Residents can also view a list of forthcoming works on our website https://islandroads.com/current-works/
Article continues below this advertisement “We aim to complete our work without impacting substantially on residents, however we will need people to remove their vehicles from the road the night before to enable us to carry out our work. If this presents difficulties for anyone, they can call our hub on 01983 822440 so we can discuss this with them.
“We thank residents in advance for their support as we continue with our work to improve the Island’s highway network.”
Councillor Ian Ward, Cabinet member responsible for highways added:
“We are pleased that this important work can resume, and it makes particular sense to do so when there are still fewer vehicles on the roads.
“We appreciate people may have got used to quieter streets, but we ask that the public respect the need for this work to continue – we all benefit from improved roads.”
Well lets hope that, for once, they actually concentrate on the roads that need doing and then only have to do it once. Too much window dressing to date and no action on roads that are falling to pieces and really need foundations etc brought up to acceptable standards. Now get on with it.
Will they be working night time again.
Great when the roads were quiet nothing, then soon as busy again, and the Summer begins back it all starts.
yes – they did absolutely nothing when they had the greatest opportunity afforded to them – when lockdown was fully in place.
funny how the NHS, transport and supermarket staff can work during lockdown, yet these bone idle road workers cannot.
what about the home finder , is that going to start again. viewing is allowed for house buyers and planning applications aplenty..
I have to agree Jerrme.
Why were they not working when virtually all vehicles were off the road.
They can’t argue ‘Social Distancing’ and when you see the vast majority of road works, actual people working are few and far between.
I’m sure they will use the virus as a ‘get out of jail free card’ as the reason their agreed targets have not been met!
Quite so Frank, I find I too, on this occasion fully agree with Jerme.
If it was essential works surely they shouldn’t have stopped working