This is one in a series of Traffic Advisory Leaflets providing guidance on methods of working and innovative techniques aimed at reducing traffic congestion due to road works. The series is aimed at utility companies, highway authorities, contractors, equipment suppliers and others involved in road (or street) works. Each leaflet in this series is based on research carried out by TRL Limited on behalf of the Department for Transport and Transport for London. Increasing the length of the working day by implementing extended working hours can reduce overall site occupation times for street works operations. While this reduces disruption to road users, it can have a negative effect on nearby residents. This leaflet explains what needs to be taken into account when extended hours are being considered together with advice on how any potentially detrimental effects can be mitigated. It focuses on works in urban areas where there is greater need to limit disturbance to residents and others. Emergency works are outside the scope of this leaflet because in such cases, controlling disruption and disturbance is less important than completing the works as quickly as possible to minimise risks to the public. The requirements of road users and residents are generally different. Road users benefit from works being carried out at night and between peak periods in the day time. Residents are likely to prefer the works to be carried out during the daylight hours including peak periods. In urban areas, street works tend to be carried out during daylight hours and on busier routes, it is common practice to halt operations during morning and evening peak hours because of the need to temporarily return the road to service at these times. This working pattern represents a compromise between reducing disruption to road users and disturbance to residents. However, this is an untargeted approach that can result in overall site occupation periods that are longer than they need to be. The key consideration, therefore, is to see if it is possible to work extended hours without causing undue disturbance to residents so that both they and road users can benefit from reducing the overall time that the works are in place. In general, road users will benefit from increasing the working window into the night so this leaflet concentrates on the needs of residents. (Author/publisher)
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