Road closure diversion through a lay-by

[Hdeng16]

Thought this was weird - the A4226 north of Barry and west of Cardiff is being upgraded fairly substantially - mostly offline but on one section seemingly online.

One section not far of the southern roundabout, work seems to be taking place on a bridge over the River Waycock.

The road is ‘closed’ (not signed as such) but access and through- traffic is maintained via single lane running through a lay-by - controlled by temporary lights. The lay-by is almost certainly an old old version of the road too.

Is this a one off? The lay-by isn’t really in that good condition either so I thought it was odd. Any other examples?

Dropped pin
Near Waycock Rd, Barry CF62 3AA
https://goo.gl/maps/x3sXWamtfvAWAbKL9

[Stevie D]

This was done on the A59 between York and the A1(M) a year or two back. I don't think it was a contraflow through the layby though, I think westbound was through the layby and eastbound remained on the main carriageway (using one lane or the other).

[Conekicker]

Unusual but not unacceptable, the layby is clearly the old alignment so with sufficient signing and coning at each end to highlight the turns, crack on. I'd expect the layby to be inspected, patched if needed and swept before running through it though. If running through the layby reduces the length of time the site works are present, then surely that's a good thing.

[Hdeng16]

Unusual but not unacceptable, the layby is clearly the old alignment so with sufficient signing and coning at each end to highlight the turns, crack on. I'd expect the layby to be inspected, patched if needed and swept before running through it though. If running through the layby reduces the length of time the site works are present, then surely that's a good thing.

Certainly! And as a road geek - I loved it. It was rough more than anything else - no pot holes but clearly a very old surface.

It may well that only been temporary over the weekend - although it does look like perhaps it’s bypassing the southern tie-in with the existing road.

Wish I’d got a video now!

[DB617]

Local here - A4226 is my commute to work. The road upgrade is essentially a bypass of the old widened lane, with the southern section being straightened online, the middle being rebuilt offline with a new cutting and DMRB NSL standards, the northern section receiving a total surface replacement and the online parts having a shared path added to give a cycle link to the A48. They've also *finally* altered the A48 junction to include a separate left-turn filter to the A4226 from the A48 Westbound, something that was unbelievably left out when the junction was signalised, apparently designed by an apprentice or incompetent buffoon ~15 years ago.

The layby was indeed part of the original B4266 Five Mile Lane before it was upgraded to all-purpose with a new bridge over the River Waycock. There's also a stub at the northern end near the junction with the A48, where the lane squeezed through some farmhouses. You can see the remains of the white line and cats' eyes down the middle of the layby. Each side of the old lane must have been <1.5m wide, so one wonders what the purpose of the white line was other than to cause accidents. Said layby was also a prime spot for night-time rendezvous until they deliberately shaved off every bit of overgrowth between the old old road and the old road.

[Hdeng16]

Local here - A4226 is my commute to work. The road upgrade is essentially a bypass of the old widened lane, with the southern section being straightened online, the middle being rebuilt offline with a new cutting and DMRB NSL standards, the northern section receiving a total surface replacement and the online parts having a shared path added to give a cycle link to the A48. They've also *finally* altered the A48 junction to include a separate left-turn filter to the A4226 from the A48 Westbound, something that was unbelievably left out when the junction was signalised, apparently designed by an apprentice or incompetent buffoon ~15 years ago.

The layby was indeed part of the original B4266 Five Mile Lane before it was upgraded to all-purpose with a new bridge over the River Waycock. There's also a stub at the northern end near the junction with the A48, where the lane squeezed through some farmhouses. You can see the remains of the white line and cats' eyes down the middle of the layby. Each side of the old lane must have been <1.5m wide, so one wonders what the purpose of the white line was other than to cause accidents. Said layby was also a prime spot for night-time rendezvous until they deliberately shaved off every bit of overgrowth between the old old road and the old road.

Haha I guess it did have that look about it. Looks a substantial upgrade - part GSJ I think too?

[DB617]

Haha I guess it did have that look about it. Looks a substantial upgrade - part GSJ I think too?

Believe it or not, no - it's just a DMRB huge radius curve. The Northbound old road will meet the new road at a ghost island T junction at the end of that curve, with the Southbound road giving way to the Northbound about 10m before the T. The points where the old road bends off the new alignment will then recieve traffic filters, leaving them open only to NMU. The curve is OTT but was kinda cool to drive when traffic was switched onto it briefly last week.

[Pendlemac]

You can see the remains of the white line and cats' eyes down the middle of the layby. Each side of the old lane must have been <1.5m wide, so one wonders what the purpose of the white line was other than to cause accidents.

Did you mean <2.5m there as the road looks a lot wider than 3m.

Also the lines probably went in when cars were narrower.

For example, a relatives Hillman Hunter ( classed then as a large family car ) was 20cm ( 8 inch ) narrower than my current 308 ( classed as a small family car ).

[DB617]

My mistake. Measurement by eye skills lacking. Basically it seems way too narrow to fit two modern cars. That being said on second look this morning, it looks like the hedgerow has been allowed to reclaim about 1m of width so it was probably previously the same width as the road is further north.

[IAN]

When a landslip occurred on the A5 in Snowdonia a few years ago, blocking the road, the diversion used the old alignment, which had basically become a farmer's track!

Ian (M5 Driver)

[Nwallace]

When a landslip occurred on the A5 in Snowdonia a few years ago, blocking the road, the diversion used the old alignment, which had basically become a farmer's track!

Ian (M5 Driver)

That's also essentially what the Rest and Be Thankful diversion is whne it isn't the ferries.

[WHBM]

When a landslip occurred on the A5 in Snowdonia a few years ago, blocking the road, the diversion used the old alignment, which had basically become a farmer's track!

We discussed this one again recently. The old alignment had actually been sold off to the farmer and gated, but was rented back.

[NICK 647063]

This was done on the A59 between York and the A1(M) a year or two back. I don't think it was a contraflow through the layby though, I think westbound was through the layby and eastbound remained on the main carriageway (using one lane or the other).

Yes it was as you say westbound through the lay-by and eastbound over the new bridge, although for a few days both directions were sent through the lay-by when a full closure of the newer bridge was required, it was controlled by traffic lights and single lane running at the narrowest part of the lay-by over the old bridge.

[darkcape]

In 2013 as part of the Fosse Park roundabout improvement the south service road was diverted on to the old road which was basically an ox-bow from 1980 when the shopping park was built and first set of lights installed. The bulk of the old road was intact with a gate for maintenance access to a local park, but the other end had been dug up and bunded with a electricity overhead line pole installed very close to the carriageway, so this stretch had to operate single file under temporary lights similar to the layby set up.