Trunk roads motorways

In the United Kingdom, the Department of Transport s (DoT) estimate of salt-induced corrosion damage is a total of 616.5 million on motorway and trunk road bridges in England and Wales alone (Wallbank, 1989). These bridges represent about 10% of the total bridge inventory in the country. The eventual cost may therefore be 10 times the DoT estimate. The statistics for Europe, the Asian Pacific and Australia are similar. 

Early studies conducted by TRRE (Shane and Newton 1988) between 1980 and 1986 on motorways and trunk roads found that 8% of CVs had a gross weight greater than the permitted maximum and a further 5.4% that did not exceed the gross weight limit had overloaded axles. In the same study, it was concluded that overloading contributed directly to 5.7% of the road wear attributable to all goods vehicles. 

Oniy permitted on trunk roads inciuding motorways that are designed for not more than 20 msa. 

Category 4 Severe deterioration - intervention level of concern. This condition should not occur very frequently on the motorway and the all-purpose trunk road network as earlier maintenance should have prevented this state from being reached. At this level of deterioration, more detailed (scheme level) investigations should be carried out on the deteriorated lengths at the earliest opportunity and action should be taken if and as appropriate. 

In 1990 a Standard and Advice Note on Road Safety Audit were introduced as part of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB). This made Road Safety Audit mandatory on trunk roads and motorway schemes from 1991 onwards. 

During the late 1990s, the Highways Agency carried out a comprehensive review of Road Safety Audit in the UK. As a result, a new Standard (HD 19/03 Road Safety Audits) was published in November 2003. This Standard applies to trunk roads (including motorways) and is commended to other highway authorities. ... 

Interim Advice Note 89/07, Appraisal of new and replacement road lighting on the strategic motorway and all purpose trunk road network, 2007... 

The Consultancy employs in the region of 160 staff and provides highways design and specialist services to the five unitary authorities comprising the former county. The Consultancy s other main function for which I am responsible is as Agent Authority for Welsh Office for Trunk road and Motorway Maintenance in South East Wales. This forms a substantial element of the Consultancy s workload. 

Table A) Additional Requirements for Traffic Management on Motorways and Trunk Roads... 

Although Road Safety Audit does look at scheme design from the road users points of view, it is fundamentally different to a road user audit - which has the primary objective of representing a road user group (pedestrians, cyclists or people with disabilities) to ensure they have been adequately catered for within a scheme. The Highways Agency (HA) has published a separate standard (HA, 2005) describing how to undertake road user audits for non-motorised users on trunk road and motorway schemes. 

The Road Safety Audit process for schemes led by new developments has been addressed in HD 19/15. The standard states that where highway improvement schemes (as defined in the standard) are carried out on the trunk road and motorway network as part of a development scheme. Road Safety Audits will be carried out as set out in the standard. This means that suitably qualified Road Safety Audit teams should undertake the work and that the commisioning, auditing, reporting and response procedures need to be undertaken in accordance with the standard. For example, the Stage 1 Road Safety Audit process must be completed to the satisfaction of the Project Sponsor before planning consent is given. 

Some schemes (such as those related to major developments) are sometimes subject to a Feasibility Stage Road Safety Audit prior to the Stage 1 audit, although this is not specifically required on a motorway or trunk road project. 

HD 19/15 provides advice and guidance on how to undertake Road Safety Audits on trunk roads (including motorways). On local road schemes there is more flexibility in the way Road Safety Audits are undertaken, and more advice can be found in the Institution of Highways and Transportation (IHT) Road Safety Audit guidelines (IHT, 2008). Some local authorities have their own procedures for carr3ring out Road Safety Audits in their own areas. However, there are six fundamental principles that should always be applied when carrying out Road Safety Audits, regardless of the jurisdiction. 

HD 19/15 describes the requirements for a Road Safety Audit Brief on trunk road and motorway schemes, and a typical brief is included in an Annex E. It should be noted that the brief should identify whether the site should be visited at a particular time of day (peak hours, or school start or finish times). If the Road Safety Audit Team considers that more information is required, the Team Leader can request such information. 

If the client organisation decides not to implement recommendations contained in a Road Safety Audit report, then it should prepare an exception report. This report should detail why the recommendations are not being adopted. HD 19/15 provides an example of an exception report in Annex L. When preparing exception reports for trunk road or motorway schemes, the Project Sponsor is required to undertake a specific risk assessment for each issue (GD 04/12). 

The final stage of the Road Safety Audit process is Stage 4. This is the stage where a completed scheme is monitored so that its safety performance can be checked. Monitoring of schemes is essential to ensure that the process is working properly and that avoidable collisions are not happening on completed schemes. Stage 4 Road Safety Audits are mandatory on trunk road and motorway schemes, and are described in HD 19/15, with an example provided in Annexes G and H. 

While Stage 4 Road Safety Audits must be carried out on trunk road and motorway schemes, local authorities may find it difficult to find resources to undertake monitoring reports on schemes introduced on their own roads. If it is not possible to have a formal Stage 4 Road Safety Audit process, then local authorities should ensure they have adequate collision monitoring systems to identify any schemes where collisions regularly occur. 

Development in Northern Ireland now require that at least one member of a Road Safety Audit Team holds a Certificate of Competency when undertaking Road Safety Audits on the motorway and trunk road network. The UK governments decided to extend the EU requirement to aU their major roads as they wanted to avoid a two-tier system where auditors would need a Certificate of Competency on TERN roads but not on the rest of the trunk road network. 

At present, a Road Safety Audit Certificate of Competency is only strictly needed to undertake Road Safety Audits on the motorway and trunk road network in the UK, on national roads in Ireland and on the TERN in other European countries. However, it seems likely that other clients will be seeking assurances about the qualifications of Road Safety Auditors in the future and could also require at least one member of the team to have a Certificate of Competency. In 2013, Solihull Borough Council introduced new Road Safety Audit procedures, adopting the principle that Road Safety Audit Teams would require members with a Certificate of Competency. However, they went a stage further than most other roads authorities had done to that point, insisting that all Team Members of the audit team hold the qualification. 

IAN 89/07, Appraisal of New and Replacement Road Lighting on the Strategic Motorway and All Purpose Trunk Road Network HA, 2007... 

All highway improvement schemes on trunk roads, including motorways (unless... 

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