{"id":66899,"date":"2016-01-27T10:50:10","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T10:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=e1fb360b2e0d1c9decda21b76dedc7d9"},"modified":"2016-01-27T10:50:10","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T10:50:10","slug":"news-story-roadwork-rules-change-to-reduce-congestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=66899","title":{"rendered":"News story: Roadwork rules change to reduce congestion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<ul>\n<li>government to encourage 7-day working to ensure roadworks finish as quickly as possible on local \u2018A\u2019 roads<\/li>\n<li>potential charges for those leaving road works in place, when no work is ongoing<\/li>\n<li>new charge for those who leave temporary traffic lights in place after work has been completed, under consideration<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Proposals to launch a major crackdown on disruption caused by roadworks on local roads and the start of 7-day working are being considered by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.<\/p>\n<p>Councils and utility companies could face paying up to \u00a35,000 a day if road works needlessly inconvenience motorists, by being left in place over a weekend, when no one is actually working.<\/p>\n<p>Similar charges could also be levied on those who leave temporary traffic lights in place after work has been completed, again on local A roads.<\/p>\n<p>Workers on \u2018A\u2019 roads, which are managed by councils, will either have to work over the weekend \u2013 so the project is finished sooner &#8211; or lift the works until they resume.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I want to deliver better journeys for drivers.  Roadworks can be essential, but that doesn\u2019t mean they should be in place any longer than is absolutely necessary. That is why I am looking at proposals to reduce queues and make drivers\u2019 lives easier. These commonsense measures will be a welcome relief to those trying to get from A to B on our local roads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Over Christmas we were able to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/400-miles-of-roadworks-removed-for-festive-season\">lift a massive number of roadworks on trunk roads<\/a>, but this package of measures will benefit drivers all the year round.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Motorists could benefit from reduced congestion, resulting in faster and more reliable journeys &#8211; less time on the roads and more time at work or enjoying their own free time.<\/p>\n<p>Councils will still need to carry out essential road works, from fixing potholes to re-surfacing, and utility companies will still need to dig up roads to fix broadband connections, water, electricity or gas supplies. However, the government is looking at ways of changing how works are done on local \u2018A\u2019 roads to avoid unnecessary delays.<\/p>\n<p>This initiative will sit alongside the government\u2019s \u00a315 billion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/road-investment-strategy\">Road investment strategy<\/a> which is transforming England\u2019s road network, helping create jobs, boost economic growth, and  fixing longstanding problems that inconvenience drivers.<\/p>\n<p>There is an existing penalty of \u00a35,000 per day for roadworks that overrun.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1018\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Roads media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Press enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 3108\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7944 4292\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Public enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              0300 330 3000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Proposals to launch a major crackdown on disruption caused by roadworks on local roads and the start of 7-day working to be considered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}