Weeks of Trinity roadworks commence today

Monday 09 January 2017

Getting to school, football and Trinity businesses might be a little trickier when roadworks commence on La Route de Trinité today, but the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) say that it was the “best time” for the works.

In a resurfacing project that will carry on until April, the work will see the roads completely resurfaced, carried out in two sections between Old Trinity Hill, and the southern end of La Route des Petits Camps, and between the Blacksmiths Arms and Rues es Picots.

Access to homes and buses will be maintained, but commuters can expect diversions and disruption to the Route 4 bus schedule. However, the bus will be supplemented by a minibus shuttle service when necessary, taking passengers to be collected on the diverted route.

While this may cause some inconvenience, Senior Civil Engineer for the DfI, Andy Downie, explained that, given the length of the job, disruption would be inevitable regardless of when the work took place. 

He told Express: “As it’s an arterial route, we usually do these during the summer holidays when there is less traffic. But it’s a 13-week period, meaning that even if we started [in the summer holidays], it would still cause disruption… It’s Jersey Live in September so we wanted to do it this side of September, not in the latter part of the year.”

Pictured: The 16 phases of the La Route de Trinité roadworks. (Image: DfI)

According to Mr Downie, businesses along the route – including Costcutter and Jersey Dairy – had “unanimously agreed” to the works starting on Monday.

“We liaise with them on every job – especially the rural ones… They certainly had quite a large input into the decision [to start now],” he said.

The resurfacing project should put an end to signs of fatigue and poor ride quality the road has exhibited in recent years. These have come as a result of both regular wear and tear and utility trenches.

“The main thing that causes a road to need resurfacing is age – roads should really be resurfaced every 15 to 20 years. We maintain them as far as we can, and will patch them as and when is required… [But] One of the main things that does affect structure is utility trenches – a trench really does affect the road structure and integrity.

“A road surface is a flexible surface, made of oil-based products and stone… so it’s quite bendy – flexible, if you like – but only to a certain point. However, that flexibility does diminish a few years after a utility trench has been made, even with the best will in the world.”

The work will be done in phases starting from Rue es Picots working south and will be closed to through traffic during working hours from 09:15 until 18:00 from Monday to Friday but open at all other times.

You can find out how the work is progressing next year and what diversions are in place on the DFI website.