Spooner Row Message Board

This received today. Overdue but will be a nightmare for some time both day and night

No shooting the messenger please and please be aware that National Highways as they want to be known,  are not NCC Highways

A11 Spooner Row to Thickthorn Concrete Reconstruction and Surface Repairs Scheme

e-Bulletin – 6 September 2021

A11 Spooner Row to Thickthorn Concrete Reconstruction and Surface Repairs Scheme

Firstly, I’m writing to let you know Highways England has changed its name to ‘National Highways’. The name change enables us to renew our focus as we deliver the Government’s £27bn strategic roads investment programme. The name change recognises we are entering a new era for roads, enabling the company to address the opportunities presented by automation and digitisation, and play its part in delivering the Government’s net-zero carbon target. I’m also writing to let you know that we’ll be working on the A11 concrete surface between Spooner Row and Thickthorn during the coming months. The East region has the most concrete roads on our road network, including the A11. The surface of these concrete roads was designed between the 1950s and 1970s, and have an average life span of 50 years. Their surfaces are reaching the stage where they will need to be repaired or replaced for safety reasons. Please click here to see a short video that provides more information. Around half of the old-style concrete roads will be repaired or replaced during next five years. We’ll be using innovative techniques, new design standards, and new technology to provide a modern road that will last for decades to come, and which is easier and quicker for us to repair in future.

This work will be carried out in two phases:

• Phase 1 – A11 Tuttles Interchange to Thickthorn Interchange road surface repairs

• Phase 2 – A11 Spooner Row to Tuttles Interchange reconstruction

Road Surface repairs

Phase 1 - We’ll replace some of the concrete road segments on the A11 main carriageway between the Tuttles Interchange and the Thickthorn Interchange, and will repair others where the potholes and cracks in the concrete are less severe. To do this work we will need to close the A11 between Tuttles to Thickthorn every evening from Sunday at 8pm to 6am Friday morning, starting in mid-October and finishing in winter and we will update our website with a confirmed date. We may also need some weekend closures to work on larger repairs.

When the road is closed a signed diversion route will be in place that will take traffic along the B1172, and we will also encourage larger vehicles to use a dispersal route along the A1066 and A140. When complete, phase 1 will improve the safety along this section of the A11. We do not intend to reconstruct it at this time, as the foundations of this section of the A11 are currently sound. Reconstruction Phase 2 in early 2022 will reconstruct the A11 road between Spooner Row and the Tuttles Interchange. A reconstruction involves removing the road surface and some of the foundations, before rebuilding the road with recycled material and asphalt. As well as reconstructing the carriageway, the work will include installing new drains, replacing safety barriers, repainting road markings, and inserting new reflective road studs (cat’s eyes). Phase 2 will provide a safer, smoother and quieter journey for road users. Once complete, we expect the life of the road surface to be extended, with fewer future closures for maintenance repairs, meaning more reliable journeys for road users. Preparation work To get ready for the start of phase 2 of the scheme, we’ll need to do some early preparation work, which will include vegetation clearance, as well as the installation of CCTV masts. In order to do this safely, we’ll need to install a single lane closure between the hours of 9am and 4pm on the A11 between Spooner Row and the Tuttles Interchange. This will start on 15 September 2021 and will run daily, for seven weeks, on either the northbound or southbound carriageway (depending on the work requirement). To complete our activities as quickly as possible, we’ll also need to work overnight during the hours of 8pm and 6am. Some of those activities, such as the vegetation clearance, may at times be noisy, and we apologies in advance for any disturbance caused. We’ll require one or two shifts in each location as we continue moving along the scheme, so we shouldn’t be in any one location for an extended period, but we’ll do our best to mitigate any noise when we are working. Keeping the community updated Once this is finished, we’ll next need several mid-week night-time slip road closures, and a number of weekend night-time carriageway closures in November and December to continue our preparation work. We’ll will provide you with more information about this activity closures, in the near future If you’d like more information about this work, contact us by emailing ConcreteRoadsEastA11@highwaysengland.co.uk

We’ve also sent a letter to every home within a 500m radius of the scheme to ensure the local and wider community is engaged with. The letter also includes additional ways for residents to contact us, such as calling the 24/7 National Highways Customer Contact Centre on 0300 123 5000, email info@highwaysengland,co,uk, or visiting our website at www.highwaysengland.co.uk/A11concrete. We’d also like to hear what you think about the information we send to you, and to understand any queries you might have at this stage. Please spend a few minutes to complete our online questionnaire. If you’d prefer to complete a paper copy of the questionnaire, then please write to me at the address at the bottom of this letter and I’ll post one to you.

Road users can also keep up to date on road closures by visiting our Traffic England website at www.trafficengland.com or by following our Twitter feed: @HighwaysEAST.

Yours sincerely

Andy Dyer

Project Manager

Woodlands

Concrete Roads East

Second Floor

Manton Lane

Bedford

MK41 7LW