A595 major upgrade, Moresby, Cumbria

With over 1,600t of Foambase and Binder laid per shift, the A595 was successfully reopened at 6am each Monday

The project scope

The £21m A595 major upgrade project at Moresby in Cumbria was to upgrade the drainage, water attenuation, and flood alleviation systems and to replace the underground services, carriageway, and footpath on a 1.3km section of the main trunk road through West Cumbria. As the key subcontractor to AE Yates (Principal Contractor), Milestone Infrastructure (civils works), and Aggregate Industries (surfacing), our work involved:

• Planing our existing carriageway to 350mm depth.
• Hotbox trench reinstatements.
• Surfacing of the main compound.
• Surfacing of carriageways, junctions, roundabout with 250mm of recycled foam mix, 60 mm of binder layer and 40 mm of surface course.
• Surfacing of footpaths.
• Kerbing works.
• Installation of drainage.
• Provision of general labour.
• Provision of plant including sweepers, low loaders, spray tankers, planers and pavers, excavators, dumpers, grab wagons and small machinery.
• Close collaboration and coordination of our work and resources with several main and sub-contractors.

Key quantities:

• Carriageway resurfaced: 1 km
• Binder & Foambase / shift: 1,600 t
• Surface course in 4 shifts: 2,000 t

Challenges & successes

The scheme ran for 11 weekends with a full road closure from 8pm on Friday to 6am on Monday for 11 weekends and involved 40 DSD Construction operatives per shift each weekend, with planning and preparation work being carried out through the week.

Each weekend the carriageway was removed and reinstated to binder level by 6am each Monday to allow the traffic to resume during the week despite many design changes. During the weekend closures we had to maintain a running lane for access by the bus services, residents, and emergency services which required close liaison with our partners and stakeholder groups – including resident representatives from the Parish council.