Island Roads will be continuing work to maintain and improve the Island’s highway network throughout the Covid-19 lockdown period.
The company worked through most of the previous lockdown with a number of additional safety measures put into place including regular staff briefings, additional PPE equipment being provided and shift patterns put in place all to help to ensure Government advice was observed.
Programmes will continue
Island Roads will take a similar approach during the second lockdown meaning work on major schemes like the St Mary’s junction improvement will continue alongside a programme of smaller improvement schemes.
Though the most intensive period of the highway improvement work is now at an end, Island Roads is committed to a rolling and significant programme of highway improvement work to ensure it maintains the overall condition of the network at or above the required standard.
Emphasis on less busy, typically residential, streets
With around 90 percent of the Island’s strategic network – or main roads – improved, the emphasis is currently on less busy, typically residential, streets.
Weather permitting, resurfacing and reconstruction work is scheduled to continue throughout November and into December. Maintenance work is, of course, ongoing and this week saw the first gritting run of the year undertaken in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Gourlay: Adapted activities to comply with PHE guidelines
Keith Gourlay, Island Roads construction manager, said,
“As always, safety remains our absolute priority and we continue to take our responsibility to manage the effects of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak very seriously.
“As we did before, in this next period of lockdown we will continue to carry out our work to ensure the roads and surrounding areas are properly maintained so that the key people who need to get to work, especially our NHS staff and emergency services, are able to do so without delay or increased risk.
“Our work falls within the construction sector where government advice is to continue with these activities. We have followed this advice and have adapted all our activities to comply with Public Health England guidelines.”
Upcoming programme
Among roads currently scheduled to be resurfaced in the coming weeks are South Street, Node Close, Bennet Street and Meaders Road in Ryde, Seaview Lane in Seaview, Luccombe Road and Priory Road in Shanklin, South Street in Yarmouth Steephill Down Road, a section of Leeson Road and St Lawrence Shute all in Ventnor and Solent Hill in Freshwater.
These schemes are however subject to change for various reasons including the weather.
News shared by Gavin on behalf of Island Roads. Ed
