Archived decisions

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Report

1. Purpose of Report

1.1 The road network in Hampshire has evolved over many centuries. The lanes in Hampshire formed from earlier cart tracks linking village and town communities. As such there was no formal design of this network and it followed the natural terrain along the most accessible routes. The tracks were poorly maintained until the mid 19th Century when, following the Highways Act of 1835 and the Local Government Act 1888, lanes were taken on and managed by the local authority and from that time organised regular maintenance took place.

1.2 Country lanes were generally made up from locally found unbound material with a compacted gravel mix, it was not until the mid 1930s that they were all surfaced with `bound material', tarmacadam mainly to reduce the dust created by motorised vehicles and pneumatic car tyres (the dustless road).

1.3 The structure of the country lanes remains much as the original construction with only limited additional tarmacadam or bitumen surfacing as top layers that has been added over the last 80 years. The road foundations, although not designed, have over time strengthened and become generally well compacted and, unless disturbed or weakened by water penetration, are able to withstand normal traffic usage. Modern day traffic loadings does however adversely impact on lanes, particularly heavy goods vehicles, and where there are significant number of lorry movements the structure at the edges may become weakened and strengthening may be required.

1.4 The road network in Hampshire is some 8,500 kilometres (6,000 miles) and the length of rural unclassified country lanes is 1,676 kilometres. It can be seen therefore that Hampshire has a relatively high proportion of county lanes and is designated as a Rural Shire County.

1.5 The verges alongside county lanes are an important feature and add considerably to the sense of place and rural setting. Highway verges are the largest landholding of the County Council and are an important habitat for flora and fauna; biodiversity is an important factor in verge management. At locations of special importance specific grass cutting and management regimes are in place to sustain the biodiversity.

2. Road Widths

2.1 The widths of our country lanes have historically been dictated by the traffic using them and are generally narrow where they serve as single access routes to local communities. The road widths vary from around 3.0 metres to 5.5 metres across the region. It is generally recognised from design standards that a road width of 5.5 metres is the minimum desirable width for a modern day car and heavy goods vehicle to pass.

2.2 Vehicles have not become wider but traffic has increased significantly over time on our lanes and the wheel-loading of heavy goods vehicles has increased to cause more damage and conflict for passing vehicles. As a result it is apparent that our lanes are increasingly suffering from deterioration and over-running at the road edge is a common problem where vehicles pass on the lanes. Informal passing places and `give and take' arrangements usually work satisfactorily and are accepted locally unless, and until, traffic volumes make these informal arrangements impractical.

2.3 There is a also a presumption from the outset that county lanes are not widened. This is a particularly strong position in the New Forest where the highway limit is the edge of the bound highway surface although the County Council does have responsibility for the first metre of the verge for maintenance reasons. Widening of, and realignment of, lanes can encourage higher speeds and the undulating and sometimes twisty alignment can act as speed constraints and the safety record of the rural county lane is relatively good.

2.4 Therefore it is a challenge to retain the character and distinctiveness of our country lanes whilst at the same time enabling traffic usage. As such an array of traffic management techniques is required.

3. Road Condition and Maintenance

3.1 The condition of the network is measured on a regular cycle (Course Visual Survey CVI) to ensure that there is a good overall knowledge of condition. In this way maintenance can be directed to the locations in most need. The condition surveys show that the network is stable and in line with targets set in the County Council's Local Transport Plan, but is in worse condition than the more heavily used roads. This is to be expected because the available funding is necessarily directed to the busiest (classified road network). Notwithstanding this the network of country lane has received additional funding in recent years to arrest the rate of deterioration, the indications are that the target condition and improvement trend has been achieved.

3.2 A significant factor in recent years has been the severe wet weather and resulting water penetration into the road structure. Combined with vehicle damage, this has caused a surface deterioration and a noticeable increase in pot hole formation, together with edge softening and weakened areas of the road haunches. Additional funding of £2,000,000 in 2008/09 and 2009/10 with programmes of pot hole repairs has helped address this problem.

4. Maintenance Treatments

4.1 Preventative maintenance treatment of surface dressing is the main maintenance process that has been used in Hampshire. Surface dressing helps to seal the road surface against water penetration and restores the surface texture which provides skid resistance. Currently the network is surface dressed on approximately a 20 year cycle. Haunch repairs and structural repairs including resurfacing are applied on lanes that have deteriorated significantly to require a more substantial repair.

4.2 Highway safety inspections are undertaken annually on the country lanes with the purpose of identifying safety defects or hazards that require immediate attention. We also rely on the public reporting these defects; routine repairs to these defects are undertaken to ensure the network is as safe as it can be . In any one year between 30,000 to 50,000 pot holes and defective areas are given attention.

4.3 The type of treatment and highway measures undertaken should reflect the sense of place, for example there is a presumption against kerbing in rural areas. Where kerbs are used as an exception they should be `countryside kerb variety'. Signing and roadside features should reflect the rural environment.

5. Traffic Management and Speed Limits

5.1 The national speed limit applies on most country lanes. The major exception is the New Forest National Park Area where a blanket speed limit of 40 mph has been applied. This was introduced as part of the Highway Strategy for he New Forest 1989 and was aimed at reducing animal accidents and has been successful in this respect. Government dispensation was given to allow speed limit signing and the scheme has since been taken up by other national park areas.

5.2 The alignment and natural constraints in country lanes act as a speed restraint and the measured average speed generally accords with the natural speed of the road, not at the national limit of 60 mph. This shows that most motorists drive according to the road conditions. There is concern however that the national limit on these lanes is too high and a lower limit should be applied.

5.3 The safety record on the unclassified rural network reflects the cautious approach that motorists generally take on these more constrained roads.

5.4 There is a presumption against widening country lanes unless there is a clearly identified safety need. Widening has been shown to increase speeds which is undesirable.

6. Heavy Goods Vehicle Movements

6.1 There is much concern that heavy goods vehicles use country lanes inappropriately and a call for wider restrictions on their movement. The application of restrictions is a difficult area in relation to the use of minor roads because of the danger of simply moving a problem to another equally vulnerable route. Larger vehicles legitimately use the network for local services and deliveries and there is no option other than to accommodate these.

6.2 There is no doubt however that lorries cause damage to the rural network and appropriate measures need to be in place to manage this type of traffic. Such measures result from planning applications where an exceptional number of heavy vehicles may be accessing a location or associated with a development and limiting lorry movements on certain routes.

6.3 Changes in rural farming management and the need to develop more efficient farming methods has, over the years, led to larger farming vehicles and lorries which have to use the rural network to access fields and farms. These vehicles can cause considerable damage to verges if overrun.

7. Satellite Navigation

7.1 Electronic route mapping has been an issue nationally and we have suffered from inappropriate vehicle routeing. This issue has been raised at national level and there is much lobbying to develop specific routes for heavy goods vehicles. There is a mechanism to inform the satellite navigation software companies of routes that are unsuitable for lorries but the success of this depends on the industry changing and updating software. There is currently no obligation on the software developers to adhere to any guidelines in this respect although the industry are aware of, and mindful of, the problem.

7.2 In certain locations signing to advise of those lanes that are unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles has been used with some success in Hampshire. The rural lane network is so extensive in the County that it is probably not appropriate to place signs unless there is a history of problems.

8. Climate Change

8.1 Road edge and verge deterioration can be accelerated by the higher intensity rainfall that is becoming more normal over the last few years. The wash-out of the verges to the edge of roads can leave them unsupported and more susceptible to vehicle damage and the impact can be cumulative. The channel ridges formed at the road edge can become a significant hazard to road users, especially cyclists and motorcyclists. Maintenance intervention is difficult as the options are quite limited but keeping the road safe is, of course, a priority.

9. Conclusions

9.1 The country lanes of Hampshire give the County its sense of place and it is important that the character of these is maintained. The road structure is relatively fragile and very susceptible to extreme weather and traffic loading. The challenge is to manage the traffic in a way that minimises the impact on country lanes. This is achieved by striking a balance between the conflicting demands and applying appropriate traffic management physical measures where appropriate.

KFr/July 2009

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. The enjoyment of country lanes is maintained for all groups that may wish to pass and re pass along them. Pedestrian access is more limited by virtue of the reduced road width but many lanes have verges which traditionally can provide useful pedestrian access.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1. Minimum impact

3. Climate Change:

3.1. How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

The impact of climate change will impact on the materials used for road construction and potential for increased rainfall will mean that they will be more susceptible to damage from water and erosion.

3.2 How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?

Adaptation measures are considered to use materials and drainage that minimises the impact of extreme weather events.