Traffic delays cut by up to five weeks on Pembury Road
20 July 2012
Kent County Council’s Highways team is saving weeks of
disruption for drivers in West Kent this summer.
By making sure crews work up to 12 hours a day, five days a week
and eight hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays in Pembury Road,
Tunbridge Wells, installing traffic signals required for the
expansion of Skinners Kent Academy, and that utility firms complete
work at the same time, motorists will be spared up to five weeks of
delays.
Under the Kent Permit Scheme, introduced
two years ago, a company planning to dig up a road must apply for
permission from Kent County Council. This allows highways officers
to manage and co-ordinate works – getting firms to work at the same
time instead of digging holes separately – to minimise the jams and
delays suffered by motorists and other road users.
Installation of the signals at the Halls Hole Road-Blackhurst Lane
junction on Pembury Road is required under planning permission to
redevelop Skinners’ Kent Academy. The work is being carried out in
the school holidays when there is 20% less traffic in the morning
rush hour, to further minimise disruption.
Following negotiations with Kent County Council, gas infrastructure
firm Southern Gas Networks and telecoms company BT Openreach will
also carry out work at the same time. The work, which is due to
begin on Monday 23 July and will involve temporary traffic signals,
is scheduled to take seven weeks. The road will then be fully open
while engineers programme the new signals to optimise traffic
flows.
Kent County Council is also working closely with local event
organisations to make sure events taking place at the same time are
disrupted as little as possible by altering traffic
management.
Director of Highways and Transportation for Kent County Council,
John Burr, said:
“The work has to be carried out as part of the planning permission
for redevelopment of Skinners' Kent Academy. It has been timed for
the school holiday when there is less traffic to be disrupted. In
addition to this, we are making sure that crews work at weekends
and for extended daylight hours, so that they can take advantage of
the long days.
“The Kent Permit Scheme allows us to better manage work on our
roads, so that we can significantly cut congestion and traffic
jams.”
Read the full information on the road scheme (PDF, 1.1mb)