Bicester Road gets the green light - signalling and resurfacing works on the A41, Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire Highways have completed two separate schemes on the A41 Bicester Road, Aylesbury in October 2024, and February and March 2025. During both schemes a road closure was put in place at nighttime so works could be completed with minimal disruption to traffic flow.
In October 2024 extending from the A41 roundabout to Stone Haven Road (opposite Aldi supermarket), we completed:
- carriageway patch resurfacing
- minor civils (smaller-scale civil engineering tasks)
- gully cleansing (the process of cleaning and maintaining road drains to prevent blockages and flooding)
- ironwork adjustments (referring to the metal components found within or beneath the road surface, such as manhole covers, drainage grates, and access covers for utilities)
- and relining works.
Refreshing the red high friction surfacing (HFS) on the crossing adjacent to Griffin Lane
Ironwork roadworks were carried out as part of the larger resurfacing project. Ironwork often focuses on maintenance and repair of metal components in or beneath the road surface, as well as the surrounding pavement. This is done to prevent issues like cracking, potholes, and water ingress providing longevity and reducing the risk of failures in the future.
We also introduced 'Proteus gullies' which are thinner than standard gullies and reduce the risk of early failures due to traffic over run. These works were completed between the hours of 20:00 and 06:00 each day and were completed ahead of schedule. In total 2,239 square metres (sqm) of carriageway was resurfaced – approx. 1/3 the size of a standard UK football pitch!
The existing traffic signals adjacent to Broadfields included infrastructure which was reaching the end of its life. The crossing was also outdated, no longer meeting footway and centre island standards for modern active travel, including wheeling, walking and cycling. With this in mind, our Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) teams refurbished the dual Toucan crossing.
Dual Toucan crossing refurbishment on A41, Bicester Road
From Friday 10 February until Friday 21 March a dynamic lane closure was put in place at the three-lane junction between 09:30 and 15:30 to allow for the refurbishment of the dual toucan crossing. A dynamic lane closure is a traffic management strategy used to temporarily close or open lanes based on real-time road works.
The refurbishment works involved removing existing CCTV and communications equipment from the controller, and decommissioning and disposing all existing traffic equipment. The ITS team replaced all traffic signal poles and cables, and signal heads with extra low voltage (ELV) aspect – which are safer (significantly reducing the risk of electric shocks) and offer greater energy efficiency!
Throughout the lane closure, the ITS team installed new:
- Nearside Toucan push buttons, displays and equipment for pedestrians to use before crossing.
- Non-Active Locking (NAL) sockets and associated ducting designed to secure all types of illuminated and non-illuminated street furniture. The design also offers greater durability and ingress protection - effective sealing of electrical enclosures against the intrusion of solid objects, dust, and moisture.
- Full sized communications cabinet with CCTV and communications equipment within it.
During this closure our streetlighting team permanently disconnected and removed three bollard and base ground sockets on the two crossing islands, and two internally-lit signs with lanterns on the roundabout.
Example of a base ground socket
Example of an internally lit sign with lantern on a roundabout
Our Capital Resurfacing team utilised the lane and road closure for the traffic signal refurbishment works by resurfacing and repainting the carriageway simultaneously in line with the ITS works.
Relining works and repainting carriageway (A41 Bicester Road)
Due to the Broadfields roundabout being the only access point to multiple shops and businesses, some of which operate 24/7, these schemes required effective communication with all of them. This was done by multiple “notice to frontages” letters being sent to the shops to provide them with advanced warnings of roadworks and potential impacts, e.g. so they could reschedule deliveries to outside of road closure times.
To maximise efficiency on the roads, working hours were extended during the half-term school holiday period (17 February to 21 February 2025) to help ITS teams complete in good time.