Just over two weeks ago, OnTheWight ran an article that drew attention to the previously unpublicised fact that Island Roads were not replacing Catseyes in some of the roads they had been resurfacing on the Isle of Wight under the council’s PFI contract.
Many people commented on that and follow-up articles saying they’d recently felt less certain driving on Island roads and the disappearance of Catseyes could well have explained that.
Of concern was whether the council had gathered a record of which roads on the Island had Catseyes on them before the Island’s road network was handed over to PFI contractor, Island Roads, for 25 years.
IW council’s list
It took quite a while, but the Isle of Wight council has now come back to OnTheWight with what they say, “shows all roads where road studs were located prior to the start of the PFI contract.”
They also point out that “the road studs may only be located on one section of the road – i.e. not the entire length.”
We asked the obvious followup question, “Do you know 1) which of these roads have been resurfaced 2) which have had their Catseyes returned after resurfacing?”, but are still awaiting answer on those from the council and Island Roads.
No details of refitting
It’s worth pointing out that, since we originally asked about the removal of Catseyes from Isle of Wight roads, over two and a half weeks ago, there’s been no update from the council as to the details of what they are doing about make sure that Island Roads put them back in, beyond “the council is working with Island Roads to review and agree a programme of works.”
Do you have information that we can add?
It would be interesting to know if the list the council had prepared prior to the highways PFI starting was fully comprehensive. If you’ve noticed roads that aren’t on the list that do have cats eyes, do get in touch and we’ll add then of the list.
In addition, if you happen to live near or drive on these roads, do you know if these roads still have Catseyes on them? Do let us know and we’ll add an extra column to the table.
