Case study:
A14 Huntingdon – Temporary Vehicle Restraint System

Project Summary:

The A14 Huntingdon is part of the UK strategic road network which is operated by Highways England and provides a vital road transport corridor between the North, the Midlands and the rest of England.  The recently improved section between Cambridge and Huntingdon is therefore of local, regional, national and international significance.

Now it’s open to traffic, we review a major safety aspect of building this scheme the temporary Vehicle Restraint Systems (VRS) – with Mark Krall the senior traffic management manager for the A14 Integrated Delivery Team.

Building a road project spanning 21 miles of extremely busy road, while keeping traffic flowing and ensuring the safety of all workers, raised a few challenges in terms of finding barrier solutions across the scheme.

The Team

Working with barrier supplier Asset VRS, Mark and his team where able to deliver solutions across the project.

Mark praised Asset VRS “…the team’s understanding, forward thinking and extensive product range delivered an end-to-end solution.

“Asset have the ability to deliver a full suite of barrier products, offering an unrivalled containment solution which can all work independently, or connected, to enable full inline protection.

With the ability to have barriers free-standing, as well as pinned within one run, we are able to protect the new road surfaces while protecting structures and the bridge decks much more easily.”

The Result

The Asset VRS’s range of barriers was used extensively across the scheme; in some weeks the project utilised almost every temporary barrier product within the range, from the Zoneguard steel barrier through to the several variations of the Rebloc and Multi/Maxibloc concrete barriers.

On schemes as complex as the A14 Huntingdon, plans can change due to delayed works or work progressing ahead of schedule; flexibility is key. Mark’s direct contacts with the Asset VRS team enabled a proactive approach to these circumstances with Mark commenting “It is pleasing to work with a contractor who delivered solutions. Their ability to work with changing situations with minimal notice was great.”

Things can and do go wrong, and when collisions occur within schemes inevitably the barrier is damaged. In these situations, the barrier needs replacing urgently to continue the protection of the workforce and the public, while maintaining traffic flow and allowing works to progress. Asset VRS run emergency contact lines for projects for such instances.

“Assets call outs are second to none, one call and the team are on hand within a couple of hours; working with the traffic managers to get the barriers replaced…”

Mark continued by reaffirming “… I would recommend Asset VRS to any major scheme. The support planning and overall professionalism and service across their team is great. I look forward to hopefully working with them again soon.”