Ask any regular driver what irritates them the most, and top of most lists will be roadworks. We all know that they are necessary, but their timing is often terrible, seem to last forever and cause colossal congestion. Now, a new lane rental scheme is being discussed that could change the roadworks system forever – but how will it affect road users?
The lane rental scheme
The scheme has already been trialled in parts of London and Kent, with some success, and looks set to be rolled out nationwide. Utility companies were charged up to £2,500 a day for digging up busy roads at peak times. In most cases, the rates were between £800-2,500 in London and between £300-2,000 in Kent. The scheme also saw TfL raise some £4.8 million and Kent County Council raised £1.1 million, after costs, during the trial.
The idea is to incentivise companies to do the work outside the rush hour, to work on quieter roads and to collaborate with other companies to complete a set of roadworks in one go. Rather than each digging up the road, closing it, repairing it and then another company comes along and digs up the same stretch of road a week later; the idea is that they can ‘share’ the roadworks to get more done at once.
© Copyright Highways England and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Positive reaction
Transport Minister, Jo Johnson, said that drivers often get frustrated at roadworks, especially when they are suffering delays, yet it appears as if no-one is doing anything about it. The idea behind the lane rental system is because companies are paying for the time they have the lane blocked off, they will work quickly and minimalize the disruption to drivers.
Head of Road Policy at the RAC, Nicholas Lyes, said that the announcement is ‘very welcome’ and that trials have shown that some of the worst congestion in London has been halved when the lane rental scheme was in use. Motorists know that congestion and roadworks are necessary, he added, but unnecessary queues and length of roadworks are something everyone finds very frustrating.
The scheme still needs the official sign off from the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, then the Department of Transport will start to draft guidelines for local authorities with regards to the bidding process.
Against the scheme
Street Works UK, who represent the utility companies and their contractors, was a little less enthusiastic about the idea, although this might not come as a surprise. They cited their own research that showed that while behaviour change could lead to improved outcomes, and less congestion, there was less evidence that it was directly due to the lane rental scheme.
Their view was that utilities are delivering the infrastructure that the UK needs to drive productivity, economic growth and deliver on government priorities, and the scheme isn’t the best solution to help with this. But they also said they would go along with it, implying that they realise how much hassle roadworks cause all road users.
In the figures
Figures show that utility companies have worked together over 600 times, since the trial started in 2015, versus just 100 times before that. It shows that the scheme can inspire cooperation where none was previously seen. There have been efforts to deal with utility roadworks for many years, going back to the New Roads and Streetworks Act of 1991, but few have had any real progress which is why there is enthusiasm for the idea of the new scheme.
Around 2.5 million roadworks are carried out each year across the country, costing the economy more than £4 billion – mostly in late employees, delayed deliveries and other results from congestion. Local authorities already have powers to manage and coordinate street works, but some say they aren’t using them effectively. The aim is that the new scheme could start to roll out next year and could help drivers around the country have a smoother ride to work.
This lane rental looks to be a blessing for all road users, as it will hopefully ease up congestion in some of the busier roads in the UK. However, it will no doubt come as a curse on utility companies as they have to allocate funds to be able to carry out repairs.
What are the road works like near you? How will the lane rental scheme help you? Let us know in the comments below
This will be a very welcome scheme. In addition charges for any ‘overrun’ of roadwork should be higher.
In my everyday commute, at this moment there are four areas of roadworks and temporary light. Three of them have been going on for weeks. Most of the time I do not see any workers at all working there.
My husband and I are always commenting on the fact that the roads are dug up and blocked off for weeks and months but no one seen doing any work. Totally ridiculous!!! I say charge them for our inconvenience
The companies take on too many contracts at a time and local councils go for the cheapest bidder. In one instance near where I live, the road works was not done for nearly a year. We came to find out that the company went bust and abandoned the job!
Charge the utility companies, reduce their profits, they simply increase prices to cover. Its called business, they pass on their costs to the consumer who always pays.
Yep. Just as I said! We lose either way!
The point is that they won’t pay because they will aim to work in way that they won’t be charged, or at least minimally. Besides for the fact that the economy was losing out much more than they will be paying, which also ends up being paid by the consumer.
Which is why it’s more than high time that the government stepped in to ensure that the utility companies are prevented from making the huge profits that they do. It’s only going to happen if there is legislation in place to make sure of it! Successive governments have been promising more control over utilities for ages. It’s about. time they made it happen. But that does not mean re-nationalising them. That would simply re-create the monopoly we had before, and that would be equally dreadful. There has to be competition as well to keep prices under control. But there also has to be a limit to the amount of profit that a company can make at the expense of its customers.
A large number of utilities work is either done because of Highway Authorities re jigging the road networks, hence utilities need to divert their assets because of conflict of new road levels etc, or due to Developers requiring new services to their sites.
This is great idea and long overdue. In the name of safety company closes road and then you do not see any work for days on end. Charge them and they will finish the job quickly with knowledge thay they are on meter time to finish work. Roll on immideately.
There is a road in south London which has been closed for over 2 years. No visible works have taken place for that time. Does not look good for anyone, but when the area is collapsing and stopping traffic has saved to road from collapse. Work will be carried out when funding has been acquired.
This is is a great idea, but definitely not new, it was touted on a Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply course I attended over 20 years ago!
and we will be forced to pay for this in the bills anyway then council politicians will waste that money for benefits on benefits for terrorist parasites such us Ahmad Musa Jibril WHO INFLUENCED LONDON ATTACKS
So Companies will have to pay for the length of time their work closes a lane, sounds a good idea in practice but all they will do is to increase their charges to the local authority, for whom they are working, and the cost will still be met by the tax payer.
Just a start, what about the miles and miles of endless motorway roadworks with absolutely no work going on? On the M6 and M5 they are “upgrading to smart motorways”. It’s a pity they can’t upgrade the people that plan and carry out the work too, as they are definitely not SMART. And at the north end of the M5 the speed limit on these (3 lane sections) is 30 mph! What a joke our roadworks system is, run by a bunch of clowns.
I second that
The problem was solved years ago with John Major’s Cones Hotline. It was derided because call centres received virtually no calls. Why? Because all contractors immediately took action to avoid being reported. Problem solved!
If you’ve ever watch the traffic type TV programmes on Motorways note how quickly a road can be repaired after a fire /accident. Closing 20 miles off is for the contractors convenience, closing shorter sections off, say 5miles, then extending that as work is completed may help traffic. As the initial section is coned off there is little traffic distruption in extending cones to new area and removing completed section cones.
I mentioned this on a Facebook thread and was rounded on by a few road workers. It seems that putting cones out & collecting them is not only labour intensive but very dangerous. A quick look on youtube shows any number of vehicles especially adapted to provide this very service – from picking/dropping to just moving cones around.
These companies would rather keep the money than invest in better tech.
Are they still digging up the M6??! We went through 20 miles of restricted lanes/speed last October?
20 miles South of Knutsford.
The M60 has been restricted to 50mph for years and yet incredibly little has happened. It can never be a 4 lane Smart Motorway because most of the bridges over and under are 3 lane with no hard shoulder. It is not even being resurfaced just patched.
Scandalous.
Can’t believe they’re still digging on the M5/M6. Haven’t they realised yet that there’s no gold there?! It must be around 5 years ago that I started going to Staffordshire with work. I was doing the journey a couple of times a week for about a year. The one saving grace was that the 50 mph limit saved me loads of fuel over the year. I’m going up there again tomorrow. Not looking forward to it at all..
my biggest bugbear is the miles and miles of lanes cordoned of on motorways with hardly anybody working, groups of men standing around, others leaning on brushes and men sitting in diggers on mobile phones. These roadworks can go on for more than 20 miles and yet miles and miles there is nobody there.Why can they not just do a few miles at a time and open the rest of the motorway. This causes driver frustration which in turn causes accidents and then further delays in your journey.
No one working no restrictions at all of any kind even lane closures
yep no gas no electric no water no drainage too, brilliant!
The biggest question is why all the infrastructure has to go underneath the roads? The answer is the utilities freeload under roads because there are no plants on them and few roots under them. I was surprised to find strapped councils were not routinely charging for roads dug up by utilities. Charge them by the hour and watch as the time that roads are disrupted by digging falls.
Better still why not progressively build utility tunnels below roads and stop closures all together?
I’ve been saying that for years!
Have you tried getting a 400mm diameter pipe of 6m length down a tunnel entrance?
No didn’t think so! Any pipe down a tunnel changes so many things. Working in confined spaces for one, you have to think of gas build up in the tunnel, vent it and sometimes force venting.
Nice idea but think again.
Sorry Mike you are wrong. Digging up roads is the most expensive option for some utilities. See if you can persuade the local authority in London to allow telecoms and electricity companies to erect poles and string their cables down Whitehall or the Mall, a much cheaper option for them. Good luck with that !
thats good but councils do a lot f the work themselves and they take the longest to complete, so what would make them speed up?
Totally correct. How will they be charged ?
Working the efficient way the Utilities work and using the same street signage at road works and fined by a higher authority.
Utility companies get away with murder. They send one squad out to excavate areas, don’t carry out the works immediately leaving a hole and traffic lights in place for anything up to a week until the next squad comes in to do the work, then its left again until the next squad comes in after more days of with the hole to fill it in, then after that they send in the team to tar the area. Apparently it’s to do with “rescheduling” the works. Instead of taking weeks to fill one hole/trench, surely it should take no more than 1 week (ie day 1 dig the hole/trench, day 2 do the work, day 3 fill the hole, day 4, fill in and tar total 4 days, 5 including time to set up/remove traffic management.
This is not a new idea it was used years ago and worked well so why was it stopped and now thought of as a new idea?
Because of smartarse penpushers in town halls and whitehall?
I worry that utility companies could bodge the repair work to save time meaning that the highway will have to be repaired again in a short space of time meaning more road closures & more public expendature.
I concur, but if the ‘repair is not up to the relevant standard (and there are standards), then whosoever failed to meet thise requirements should be fined by the local authority and forced to return and fix it properly.
I worked in Germany in the mid 90s, people started work and kids started school at 7am, There was no problems on the Autobahns simply because they did the work during the night when the roads were very quite. Just a thought
That would depend on so many factors, local residents, other factors as well like other works on adjoining roads.
That can’t be done here in the UK-that’s clever working
Most short duration works on the motorways actually happen at night.
Insist that the utility companies and councils employ enough people to work 24/7 to get the job finished.I recently had water company work being carried out near me and when I went past at 2:45 pm Friday they had already knocked off and didn’t get started until about 10:00 am on Monday
Workers near me who started at 11 and finished at 3 told me they were transported in from Lancaster to south Cheshire so couldn’t work a longer day. Most of their day was spent travelling.
There may have been restriction laid down by the local Highway Authority. That could be district or county council or Highways England.
Very true, Highways England does not like works taking place during peak time. Unfortunately is work takes place of multiple days cones stay in place. What people may not realise is that a lot of work also takes place between 10pm and 4:30am, so working through the night.
Ah but do you want people digging up the street outside your house at two o’clock in the morning
The only comment I wish to make is ‘Why has it taken so long for companies to cooperate in this important work?’ Working together must reduce costs and increase profitability! This initiative has been a long time coming. I hope the scheme rolls out across the whole of the UK.
For many years I have thought that a ‘services sewer’ should be built under any new road. This would be designed to carry sewage and in a suitably screened of area above that a place where all other services – water, gas, electricity, telephone, and anything alse you can think of could be hung on the sides af this ‘tube’. Result: no further disruptuion of traffic to instal newfangled ways of doing things!
I think they have a similar scheme in Scotland running for years
I mostly drive in the evening. Often there are road closures overnight. OK, fair enough, but the information is far too limited. A sign on the road that you’ve driven past before you can read it, nothing at all on most websites. And no indication just which stretch of road is affected so that you can plan a detour rather than following detour signs in a big loop
In Bournemouth we have just been quoted FIVE WEEKS to renew/update traffic lights at the Cooper-Dean roundabout . 5 weeks , unbelievable !
Why are we once again behind what are considered 3rd world contries. Malaysia for many years has had a system where there is consultation between all utilities when road works are to be undertaken and trenches dug. If as a company you fail to take advantage of basically the hole in the ground, then within a 10 year period you need to did up that same section of road you have to pay heavy fines. This encourages companies to work together, reduce costs and think ahead by planning ahead. It really isn’t rocket science. It also reduces pot holes and congestion in heavily populated areas.
In Singapore the whole street will be completely resurfaced, withing one night.
Good idea, charging utilities, but where’s the money going? Should be ringfenced for road development/repairs. Sick of B roads being shut when just doing minor repairs, this must cost us millions, never used to hapen, needs to stop.
Smart motorways! Waste of time if they don’t enforce the ‘lane hogging’ law and continue to let lorries block up the third lane.
Lorries in two lanes only, cars/vans third lane and cars only outside lane, then we might achieve better traffic flow.
And who do you think the utility companies will past these costs onto ….. me and you in our utility bills increse
I agree with Mark Butler. All the road wreckers will do is price it into the contract price and the end user pays. Its just fiddling with the deckchairs as tth road network bows under the pressure of the overload. Will it really recoup the costs incurred by the chronic congestion?
How about a more radical approach like incentivising companies and the private user to use the roads when they are “off peak”. Better capacity utlisation and less cost to the individual and hauliers.
Any charges to these companies that dig up the roads, will be passed onto their utility customers, utility companies, whose bills are already bankrupting us!
Why are the services under the road? Why can’t a honey coned pipe work system be implemented under the pavement with inspection chambers placed a distance apart? Surely this would save digging up the road every 3 months.
I fully agree, I’ve been saying similar for years.
The contractor will accept the charges & pass them on to the company employing the who will in turn pass it on to thier customers. Nobody wins.
Nobody wins…….except the Government and the County Councils.
It’s a pity they haven’t used this system on the M60 around Trafford and Worsley it’s generally considered no one works there as it’s taken so long to update it to a so called smart motorway (which incidentally won’t make one iota of difference to the massive congestion there unless they close the Worsley Court House entry slip towards the Trafford Center where in a very short distance traffic is vieing for position to go on the M62 Towards Liverpool M602 to Manchester and M60 towards the Trafford center) THATS THE HOLD UP not the fact that there are only three lanes and not four)
Smart M ways are anything but smart. There have already been several deaths caused on such M ways as people are unable to reach the ”safety area” The whole thing is a joke run by a parsimonious government
Tempory traffic lights should only be operation when work is being done not for 24 hours when the work is only being done for 4 or 5 a day the road must fully open when no one is working Working day and night will get the work done quicker and cause less frustration to drivers
whyever can’t we learn from the Dutch. All roadworks are carried out during the night under floodlight so as not to interrupt the peak, daytime traffic flow… you never see road works during the day…
Needs to be done, The council have started the outside peak times working round here, its great for getting to work, not so good when you have to go out on a call or for lunch though. The next thing they should do is put in windows for planned maintainance and then re-surface after. we might end up with some decent roads then.
Why do we have miles and miles of cones restricting lane use, speed limits of 50mph (Or less) that cover miles and miles of motorway, and then two or three men working in a very small area, why do they do this, in my area we have a very busy road that has been subject to a temporary 40mph for about 5 miles for months now, the cause, alterations to a roundabout that nobody has been working on for weeks.
About time too. I think they should be charged a minimum of £5000 per day. This should apply to all roads especially those road closures only benefitting developers.
So basically, County Councils charge Utility Companies, who will then, in turn, charge us, the customer with higher rates and charges. This will have no effect on the hundred s of miles of Motorways that are reduced to 50mph for literally YEARS at a time.
End result, Councils will get more income, customers will ultimately pick up the tab, and motorists will still sit in endless miles of queues. Nothing changes.
Sounds very much like some much needed joined up common sense coming to the fore. Great idea!
its a good start, now make it compulsory for any company that has to dig up our roads to comply or pay a £5000 per day fine which doubles if there are no workmen on site.
so the utility puts a couple of men on that site who just drink tea all day – save £5K per day (no brainer) and the motorist still gets the congestion
It is typically the unplanned and unexpected but necessary road works that cause the most agravation such as the electric cable fault, the burst water main, the fractured gas main. They can’t be planned for because no one knows when or where they may occur. Often an ’emergency repair’ has to be carried out until the necessary components can be sourced and a permanent repair made.
And who pays the utility companies bills? Us the consumers. They will merely pass on their costs in higher bills. There is a road in our area due to be closed for 6months. Add the ‘rental’ charge to the repair bill and you get a humungous increase in your utility bill.
I can see the logic behind the scheme and it might make companies more responsible. I do have another observation when Road works have completed the amount of times the roads they have escalated need repairing again a short time after causing more disruption and obviously more cost. Why do they carry out repairs that are inadequate that need repairing a short time after.
What a refreshingly useful idea!!!! Pity no-one thought of this years ago as we drivers have been thinking it.
Will water companies be fined for digging up the road during the day because they are dealing with a burst main?
The idea that a significant proportion of Utilities Roadworks in urban areas will be coordinated is I am afraid unrealistic as much of the work is reactionary and not programmable ie. water / gas leaks,electricity /telecoms faults. This coupled with the fact that much of the their work is carried out by external contractors makes the coordination of these works nigh on impossible.
The ability of roadworks to be completed in a single overnight period is limited and is not the most attractive proposal if the drilling is taking place outside of your bedroom window!
Whilst lane rental is a good theoretical idea I do not believe that it will have a significant impact on minimising delays to road users.
As I used to work for one if the utility companies, I understand why it is not always possible to coordinate carriageway digging up, and why it looks as though one comes, closes up, and then the same stretch gets dug up again a couple of days latter. So here goes. One company comes along and carries out their planned maintenance, and closes the dig after finishing. But whilst doing their work, they sometimes damage another utilities plant, it could be a couple of days or more before the damage is found out. It could be a damaged gas pipe, a water main, or a telephone cable. What ever, they then have to come out and dig it all up again to carry out the repair that the previous company has caused. And so it goes on. It would surprise the general public how often this type of damage happens.
I’m in favour of a charging system so long as it is proportionate and reasonable, which basically means it needs to be agreed between local Governments and contractors (easier said than done , I know!).
The charges must also be structured in order to minimise daytime closures (e.g. by charging more for closures which extend during the daytime than nighttime only). There must also be penalties for overruns, unsatisfactory work and damage caused to third party infrastructure.
A new block of flats was built opposite our block. We have had the utilities here for the first week of every month for the last 6 months digging up the road because, according to the reply I received from the council, the work was not up to standard! Now we cannot even do connections and repairs properly. What happened to right first time, every time? Don’t people have any pride in their jobs any more?
The beginning of March is on the way, so I’m expecting more of the same!
If you were anything like the USA you would have your own service tunnels at the side of the road, negating the need to dig up roads and cause potholes in the first place
On a related topic, after Brexit we should have the chance to lower the maximum axle load for trucks. It was the EU that made us increase from 10 to 13 ton axles for a common weight with the continent. Rather than cause 30% more damage, the dynamic effect causes more than two and a half times more damage. So a return would mean we would not have to repair motorways and main roads anything like as often.
Already done by the Conservative Government a few years ago,you dig you pay,to make utilities company’s work together in one hole.In Germany works done at night, another thought is all the equipment that is stood doing nothing most on hire costs millions that someone’s paying for.I know this as the M5 made my fathers company in the 70s the second biggest plant company in Europe with equipment just sitting doing nothing.
I’m in favour of a charging system so long as it is proportionate and reasonable, which basically means it needs to be agreed between local Governments and contractors (easier said than done , I know!).
The charges must also be structured in order to minimise daytime closures (e.g. by charging more for closures which extend during the daytime than nighttime only). There must also be penalties for overruns, unsatisfactory work and damage caused to third party infrastructure.
Have said this for years: companies should notify each other when digging up a road and they could all do whatever is needed at the same time. Glad someone has finally seen sense at last.
I think the Government are missing the point here. If they did what successive Governments have talked about and implement an integrated transport system less traffic on our roads could be achieved.
We used to transport more freight by rail and more passengers would travel that way if the right conditions prevailed.
Let’s have a major shift in our thinking, Build transport hubs to accomodate passengers and businesses, that way our ever decreasing space whether in towns countryside can be utilised more efficiently.