An email alert from the DSA:
Roadworks lifted for Christmas and New Year holiday period
More than 250 miles of roadworks on motorways and major A roads should be completed by next week, the Highways Agency has confirmed. A further 64 miles are planned to be suspended between Christmas Eve and 4 January 2011, making things a little easier for holiday traffic.
Christmas roadworks
In all, 142 sets of roadworks are due to be completed ahead of the Christmas and New Year holiday traffic.
A further 34 sets of roadworks and lane restrictions are due to be removed by 6:00 am on Friday and will not be put back before 00:01 on Tuesday 4 January.
In the event of severe weather next week, it may not be possible to complete or remove as many roadworks as planned. Priority will be given to treating the roads and keeping them as clear as possible for holiday traffic.
At 33 locations, lane restrictions or temporary speed limits will need to remain in place for the safety of drivers and their passengers.
Roads Minister, Mike Penning, said: “Completing or lifting roadworks on the motorways and other major roads managed by the Highways Agency will help everyone planning to drive over the festive season. More than 98 per cent of the strategic road network will be clear of roadworks, so more lanes will be open and many speed restrictions lifted.”
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Call me sceptical, but this is a lot of bull! The “holiday period” in question is actually the quietest of the year (when you drive for a living, you know these things), and it would make sense to get as much done as possible while it is quiet and get the bloody things finished once and for all. But “sense” is not something the Highways Agency is familiar with.
So let’s not deceive ourselves: this is purely to save money. All those Bank Holidays and weekends are double- and treble-time.
The reality for the rest of us is that those vastly over-running roadworks will continue to make life hell – and cost some of us money – well into 2011.