Noise from Chowns Mill improvement works being monitored

Highways England says it is trying to keep noise to a minimum as it continues with the Chowns Mill improvement works.

In its latest report, Highways England says it has made good progress creating new road space around the roundabout and within the central reservation areas of the approaches to it.

However, the report also says noise and vibration is something they are having to monitor as work progresses on the £24 million project.

It says: "We understand that our overnight work is causing inconvenience and disruption for which we apologise and thank you for your patience while we carry out this vital work.

"We're working hard to complete this work as quickly and safely as possible while minimising the amount of noise generated.

"Unfortunately, it's not possible to eliminate all construction noise and vibration.

"However, we're adopting best practise measures and working as considerately as we can, giving advance notice about our planned works.

"We've recently begun to work on Station Road (A5028) and uncovered part of the old A6 road, which we needed to break out using an excavator.

"Following feedback from nearby residents who were concerned about vibration, we halted this activity and we're now approaching the removal of the old A6 in a different way.

"We're using a road planer, which will get the works completed quicker and should produce less vibration and noise."

Some people have taken to social media to complain about the noise, including one tweet which said: "Chowns Mill roadworks keeping me up at night and in the mornings, didn't know that roundabout could annoy me even more than it did."

Dust is another issue which Highways England is having to contend with.

It said: "We apologise for the dust over the recent spell of nice weather – we'll be using new equipment that will spray water and reduce the amount of dust generated."

There will be no work tomorrow (Friday, May 8) but work will resume at the weekend (May 8/9) with overnight work preparing the junction for the installation of the permanent traffic management.

The improvement works started in February and are set to take 22 months to complete.

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