Roads across South Yorkshire are being affected by an unforeseen problem caused by using slag from Sheffield’s world-famous steel industry in their construction.
Work got under way this week on a £4.9M project to remove the steel slag and resurface the Mosborough Parkway in Sheffield, after years of cosmetic work. ~Sheffield City Council~ has to fix damage caused by silica, a byproduct of steel slag and used in the construction of the route in the 1970s, which has expanded.
The problem has also affected a number of other local authorities in Yorkshire. Rob Davison, assistant head of design and build at Sheffield council, said: ‘At the time, it passed all the tests, but no-one looked into the long-term effects of the free silica, which has expanded and damaged the road. We have carried out cosmetic repairs for the last six or seven years.
‘However, we thought there was no choice but to get in there and sort this out, once and for all.’
The problem also affects roads in Barnsley, Rotherham and Kirklees, and elsewhere in Yorkshire. Funding has been received from the Department for Transport to cover all of the costs of this work on Mosborough Parkway (A57), on the main route into the city from the M1. Work began on the project on 27 March as part of a larger scheme, which will also include significant improvements to the Sheffield Parkway (A630) route – linking the M1 and A57 – later this year.
The improvements will also see new noise bunds on Sheffield Parkway, new safety barriers, new kerbing and paving, new traffic signs, improved road markings, and new drainage. The work on Mosborough Parkway will include £150,000 to resurface the road between Richmond Road and Coisley Hill, as well as erecting safety barriers and improving drainage. A further £70,000 will be spent on new traffic signs, and road markings, with high-visibility red surfacing on hatched areas where traffic merges from two lanes into one. Vehicle-activated signs will be used to also inform motorists of the road works. Problems have occurred on Rotherham’s Centenary Way – another section of the A630 – due to the silica expanding.
But a spokeswoman for Rotherham Borough Council said: ‘The cost of removing this material from beneath the road is excessive and would far exceed original construction costs. ‘It has been our policy to undertake the minimum amount of remedial work when action becomes necessary. This will continue until engineers are confident they can renew the whole road structure.’
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