A secret report drawn up by consultants puts forward a host of radical measures that could totally change the way new roads are built.
Instead of constructing the road on site, where work can be disrupted by bad weather and unforeseen conditions can send costs spiralling, contractors will be encouraged to embrace modern methods of construction. It is proposed that sections of road will be prefabricated in special-purpose highway factories and transported to site for rapid installation.
One such highway production centre is already up and running in the Jiangsu province of China, where the concept has been proven. Consultants have been commissioned to undertake a cost-benefit analysis into whether it would be more effective for the government to subsidise the construction of a new road factory in the UK or simply import roads from China.
Costs can also be saved, according to the report, by building all future estuarial crossings further inland to allow shorter and less costly bridge spans to be used.
Other radical measures being considered include relaxing the traditionally tight specifications and controls on contractors. A Highways Agency source revealed: “There are several measures we are looking at quite closely. For example, it costs a lot of money to make roundabouts perfectly round. This is form over function. They would work just as well if they were not quite so round, and that would be a lot cheaper to build. In the future, we’ll be quite happy with round-ish.”
Traffic lights are set for a radical overhaul too, with 33% to be saved on bulbs by getting rid of amber lights. “Amber serves no real purpose,” the source revealed. “Drivers will soon get used to just going on green and stopping on red without the aid of wasteful and extravagant amber.”
With raw material costs spiralling, consultants have also identified 25% cost savings that can be made on paint lines by switching to cheaper magnolia instead and making the lines shorter, with bigger spaces between them.
The Highways Agency has also calculated that it can save £1.4m every year by relaxing its specification for cats’ eyes. “We’ve talked to our maintenance contractors about this and had really valuable input,” our source said. “They tell us that they could just use the eyes of any old roadkill that they find lying on the roadside. Cats are a bugger to catch.”
Asked for a comment, a spokesman for the Civil Engineering Contractors Association said: “We seem to get these reports at this time of year. While our members are happy to consider any cost saving measures, it would be foolish to think that they will all go ahead in the foreseeable future.”
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
