Crowning achievement boosts A1 safety

National Highways has hailed what it says is an inventive approach to tackling surface water on the A1(M) in North Yorkshire.

The government-owned company said it had been monitoring the Oak Grange stretch of the strategic road south of Junction 53 (Scotch Corner).

It found that, in heavy rain, water took longer to clear effectively and was sometimes collecting on one lane of the road surface before draining, which made driving conditions more difficult and created a higher risk of aquaplaning.

It said it then followed a meticulous process that saw engineers reshape the carriageway to create a new, longer ‘rolling crown’.

The road was reshaped so that highest part of the surface, runs diagonally over an extended section across all lanes of the northbound carriageway.

This reshaping removed all flat spots from the surface, allowing water to flow away more effectively into drainage channels. Tests have shown that this approach has been successful, National Highways said.

Project manager Ted Chamberlain said: ‘We worked closely with our designers and contractors to develop a solution to the issues, and make these vital improvements.

‘Water drains away from the surface more quickly now and, as this is a permanent change, the road won’t require specialist measures in the future so we can keep traffic running smoothly along this section.’

The newly shaped A1(M)