Specific Sites

Tewnals Lane ( A515)
This out of all of the sites gives me the most concern.  Again the approach signage for the mandatory speed restriction and the actual haul route leaves some room for improvement. Coupled with this being an A road even though it is called Tewnals Lane, it is the main route from Ashbourne through to Lichfield and then onto the Midlands. From past experience this road is used frequently by quarry vehicles from the Ashbourne area, these take a lot of stopping time and distance.  There is a very large trading estate to the South of Lichfield along Woodend Road that also increase the use of this stretch of the A515 for vehicles.   The general layout of the site is only 100m from the West Coast Mainline bridge.  This as with most of the bridges of this period, is quite steep with poor visibility on the opposite side (towards the haul route). Part of the road is also on a down hill gradient (again towards the haul route) increasing the speeds of traffic.  The turning for Woodend Lane is 15m from the haul route.  The Woodend Lane part of the haul route is 170m from the A515 junction and there is no signage in between these 2 works areas. The approach to the Woodend Lane section is around another blind bend with Fog Lane joining on the apex. As you can see the potential for accidents on this haul route is greater than most. Not all vehicles do keep to the speed limit and judging from the accident damage between the haul route and the bridge parapet this stretch is no different. One possible solution to help decrease the risk is to install a full haul route.   This would have the benefit of X,Y,Z loop detection along with vehicle actuation and speed assessment loops to allow the faster moving vehicles more amber time to clear the haul route before the phase change allowing the plant to cross. This series of crossings will need to be manned at all times with a communication system between them to allow for liaison to minimise the distribution for the travelling public. The option of all red loops within the haul route I feel would not be a benefit if the operation is controlled by experienced haul route operatives.