For most of us, they have become a source of irritation and delay.
But for Dominic Jones, the five-mile roadworks along the A11 are the stuff of dreams.
The 13-year-old is a roadworks superfan, with a particular passion for contraflow systems.
He wrote to National Highways, the government agency responsible for major road projects, to tell them about his enthusiasm and received in return an invitation to visit one of its biggest ongoing schemes, the resurfacing work on the A11.
Dominic - who makes his own toy roadwork layouts and has a traffic light which he uses to control his family's movements through their home - was given a full tour of the agency's compound, near Wymondham.
He was shown its heavy duty machinery, including a massive roller and site's biggest digger.
He also operated one of the impact protection vehicles, which are designed to protect the workforce in the event of a motorist crashing through the roadworks.
The trip concluded with a drive through Dominic's favourite type of traffic management - the five-mile contraflow system – in one of the recovery vehicles.
“I’ve loved roadworks since I was 10. They’re so interesting to look at and contraflow systems are my absolute favourite,” he said,
Dominic, of Creeting St Mary, Suffolk, is autistic and has cerebral palsy.
His mother, Charlotte Jones, added: “Dominic’s been counting down the days to this visit for months, and the sheer delight on his face all day - he’s had a fantastic day.
"He loves making his own roadworks at home and sets out different layouts with mini cones, lights, and signs.
“He also has a toy traffic light set which he often places around the house as a temporary three-way light. We all must wait for the red to switch to the green before we can move.”
Tina Hornshaw, the assistant project manager, said: “When we first received Dominic’s letter about his love for roadworks, it was so endearing we knew we had to invite him down for a behind-the-scenes look at a real-life site compound and contraflow system.
“It was lovely to see Dominic learning all about the different machinery we have on-site and hearing his stories about how he builds traffic management systems on Minecraft. We very much look forward to seeing him again soon.”
THE WYMONDHAM WORKS
National Highways is five months into a £60m project to reconstruct and re-lay the concrete road surface of the A11 carriageway between Spooner Row and the Tuttles interchange, as a part of its nationwide drive to revitalise concrete roads across the country.
The surface of this stretch of the A11 was laid in the 1990s. Decades of use and hundreds of millions of journeys have left the road in need of vital upgrades which aims to improve safety, boost ride quality and reduce noise for the 45,000 drivers who travel on this section every day.
The scheme will see National Highways completely remove the concrete road surface and some of the foundations, before then rebuilding the road with recycled material and a new asphalt road surface. It is expected the scheme to be completed in spring 2023.
As well as resurfacing the road the project will also see replacement kerbs installed, the drainage system refurbished, safety barriers replaced, new road markings and new reflective road studs, more commonly known as cat’s eyes.
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