Lane closure when leaving emergency areas
Case reference FOI2024/00918
Received 28 August 2024
Published 6 November 2024
Request
Provide all documentation relating to policies, operating procedures and meeting minutes, emails regarding policy or procedure regarding lane closures, diverts relating to persons reentering the motorway from a emergency refuge area.
Response
Please see the attached extracts, regarding exiting Emergency Areas, which have been taken from the work instructions (WI) National Highways employees follow. We have provided a copy of the what the work instruction said pre-November 2023 and post-November 2023 for your records and comparison.
Also attached is the Traffic Officer briefing note, which accompanied the clarification to WI referenced in the above documents. This update is explained further below.
Last November, work instructions for operations teams were clarified to ensure consistency across our Regional Operations Centres. You’ll see from the briefing the recommended initial action of an operator to assist customers exiting an emergency area is to set a lane divert, as well as giving the opportunity for further actions, including the setting of a Red X, if necessary. Prior to last November the wording in the WI was, ‘Set suitable signs and signals (eg. a lane divert right)’.
It is not always practical for a vehicle exiting an EA to be able to accelerate and match the speed of traffic in the adjacent carriageway wholly within the extent of the EA.
National Highways requests road users use the emergency telephone to contact us before attempting to exit the EA so that we can assist, in the first instance this is likely to be the setting of a lane divert, but other options remain available.
No other information in the scope of your request is held by National Highways on this subject.
Documents
This is National Highways' response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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