§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made, in respect of each stretch of motorway and trunk road, of the likelihood of the road surface being damaged by hot weather; and, in respect of each, what repairs will be carried out and when.
§ Mr. KeyThe standards and specifications used by the Department of Transport for the design and construction of all motorways and trunk roads make due allowance for the effect of hot weather. However, damage does sometimes occur in exceptional circumstances. In addition to normal monitoring, during periods of unusual weather conditions extra monitoring is undertaken. Problems are rectified as quickly as possible and in such a way as to cause minimum inconvenience to road users.
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§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the cost of repair in respect of each stretch of motorway and trunk road of repairing damage caused, or likely to be caused, by defective concrete and reinforced steel construction; and what plans he has to undertake repair work to ensure minimum disruption to motorists.
§ Mr. KeyThe Department of Transport spends some, £16 million each year on the rehabilitation of concrete roads. This is mainly to rectify the effects of many years of wear and tear from heavy traffic; only a very small proportion of the work is to remedy defective materials and workmanship. Concrete roads are regularly inspected and any necessary repair work is carefully planned and co-ordinated to ensure minimum disruption to road users, by working at night, for example.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport which stretches of(a) motorway and (b) trunk road, with the number of miles in each case, have been constructed with concrete and reinforced steel.
§ Mr. KeyOf the 250 miles of motorway with a concrete surface, about 65 miles are reinforced with steel. For all-purpose trunk roads, there are 210 miles of which 80 are reinforced. Many roads have concrete as part of the pavement but have a blacktop surface. Taking these into account, approximately 20 per cent. of motorways and 8 per cent. of all-purpose trunk roads have concrete as a part of the structural pavement layers. Roads with long— above 10 miles, but not necessarily continuous—lengths of concrete carriageway are:
Lengths (miles) M20 in Kent 38 M40 in Oxfordshire/Warwickshire 38 M 11 in Essex 30 Al2 in Essex 29 M25 in Surrey 22 M42 in Warwickshire 19 M27 in Hampshire 16 A1 in Nottinghamshire 16 M5 in Somerset 15 M6 in Lancashire 13 A45 in Suffolk 13 M2 in Kent 12 M25 in Essex 12
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give full details of the design specification required of contractors who(a) build and (b) repair roads; and what plans he has to review the specification required of the tenderer.
§ Mr. KeyContractors involved in the construction and repair of the Department's roads are required to carry out their work in accordance with the specification for highway works which forms part of the manual of contract documents for highway works. The content is subject to continual review with the publication of an update approximately annually. Designs for road construction are based on standards set out in the design manual for roads and bridges. Copies of both documents are being made available in the Library of the House.