The Transport Agency expects to start work from next week to improve the braking performance on State highway 6 (SH6) immediately south of Winton that currently has temporary speed restrictions in place.
The sites were identified during a regular highway survey.
Transport Agency Senior Network Manager Peter Robinson says the stretches of road aren’t unsafe. What we are dealing with, is a lower level of braking performance than we would typically want from the road surface.
“This means that in wet conditions braking will stop a vehicle, but it will take a longer distance than would be typically expected on a highway. There are effectively three sections within the temporary speed limits operating. The first and last sections are up for a rehabilitation work in 2015/16. The surface in these are at the end of their serviceable life.”
Mr Robinson says a 70km/h temporary speed limit is there to reduce speeds to levels where drivers can stop with reasonable margins of safety. We have the speed limit change in conjunction with “Slippery when wet” signs to help drivers understand what the problem is.
A specialist machine is needed to improve the braking resistance at these sites and this is expected to be on the job from around 15th June. The job isn’t expected to take any more than a day or so and when completed the temporary speed limits will be lifted immediately he said.
