News
Rebuilt road should be good for 40 years
WILLINGTON Street will be fit for purpose for the next 40 years, once the replacement works have been completed. Alan Casson, resurfacing man-
ager for KCC, says the scale of the £1.2m scheme is exceptional be- cause the road, which links the A20 Ashford Road with the A274 Sutton Road in the east of Maidstone, has an abnormally shallow base layer, which causes frequent and costly repairs. Instead of under-
Alan Casson
taking comparatively minor work such as surface dressing or superfi- cial resurfacing, the road is being completely replaced, which means burrowing down 50cm to the un- made sub-base (soil) level and re- placing all the material above. The first phase, between Sutton
Road and Denton Close,was due to be completed onAugust 31 enabling the road to re-open to through traf- fic. The remaining sections ofWill-
ington Street will be repaired in two further phases during the Easter and summer holidays of 2015. Mr Casson said:“We are building
the road from scratch in a very sim- ilar way to how a developer would create a new road. “We will not be getting potholes
on this road for a long, long time. These occur because of loss of strength and the old age of a road, but this will last for 40 years with very little management.” Surveys are undertaken on A, B
and C roads in Kent every two years. It was one of these that flagged up the irreparable state of Willington Street, which, unlike mo- torways and some other main roads, became a heaving thoroughfare by accident rather than design. “This used to be a country lane
before it was widened in the 1960s. The road construction layers are thin and it was never intended for the amount of traffic it now caters for,” Mr Casson added. The high volume of lorries, in par- ticular, hastened the demise of the
surface, with just a singleHGVhav- ing the equivalent impact of 10,000 cars, according to Mr Casson. The overall project involves dig-
ging up 6,000 tonnes of material and then laying down the same amount over 2km. The surface will be given extra strength by a geo-textile mem- brane beneath a special sub-base and a geogrid composite membrane near the surface. KCC has imposed a five-year ban
on utility companies digging up the road.
While the phase one closure has caused inconvenience to some near- by residents, others have said they have enjoyed the peace and quiet. Comment – pages 32 and 33.
downsmail.co.uk Help to find a
place to live LANDLORDS in Maidstone and residents on the housing register have a newway to find each other. Maidstone Council has teamed up
with
homehunt.co.uk to offer free listings for landlords and an alter- native place for people on the hous- ing register to find a home. The project is part of Maidstone Homefinders, a range of schemes to help ensure everyone has a decent place to live. For residentswhoneed help to get
a home in the private rented sector, the website advertises properties where the landlord has agreed to ac- cept a Homefinder bond in lieu of a deposit. The cabinet member for housing,
Cllr Marion Ring, said: “Working with Home Hunt makes it easy for landlords to advertise, and easy for residents to apply.” Landlords are sent applications
from interested tenants, and can choose a tenant for their property. Interested tenants should visit
homehunt.co.uk, while landlords can find out more by emailing
homefinders@maidstone.gov.uk or by calling 01622 602750.
Formore local news
www.downsmail.co.uk
14
Maidstone South September 2014
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