The Newark Waste and Water Improvement Scheme is a £60m Severn Trent Water project to protect over 1000 residents in Newark from sewer flooding.
Delivering a project of this size required multi-organisation collaboration in order to avoid significant disruption to the thriving market town.
Via was key to a team of stakeholders, including Severn Trent Water, BNM Alliance, NCC Transport & Travel Services and NCC Flood Risk Management Team, which was assembled to find a solution that balanced the requirement to eliminate flooding with the need to keep Newark moving and open for business.
Major shaft works were required at key locations in the town centre, presenting a significant threat to traffic flow in the town. Together with partners, Via devised a one-way traffic system, making a strategic town centre street (Castle Gate) one way, effectively creating an inner ring road. Not only did this allow traffic flow to be maintained during shaft construction it also allowed all three town centre shafts to be constructed simultaneously. The result was an initial estimate of eighteen months of town centre road closures and traffic control being reduced to a seventeen week period of moderate traffic disruption.
Collaborative planning and liaison also highlighted the need for Via’s traffic signals team to carry out major traffic signal upgrades at two of Newark’s busiest highway junctions. Sewer replacement works were also scheduled for these junctions so a joint planning team was established, allowing both projects to be carried out simultaneously. Through regular co-ordination meetings, construction programmes were aligned, working areas agreed and traffic management plans devised to allow both contractors to safely work in adjacent areas whilst having no further impact upon traffic flow or residential access.
