Friday, April 17
WITH the weather signalling a change in season, SWTRA has sprung into action and are giving motorways and trunk roads in South Wales a spring clean.
The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) has an obligation to remove litter from motorway verges, embankments and areas which are difficult to access safely, such as central reservations.
Littering affects the entire trunk road network, from the Severn Bridges to Fishguard, managed by the South Wales Trunk Road Agency (SWTRA). However, motorway slip roads often suffer more than most other roads due to drivers slowing down or stopping to throw fast food wrappers, crisp packets, apple cores and juice bottles from their cars.
To comply with the requirements of the national Trunk Road Maintenance Manual and the Environmental Protection Act 1990, litter picking exercises on the verges and embankments is undertaken twice a year on the main carriageways, at a cost in excess of £500,000, which includes monthly litter collection on all slip roads as part of SWTRA’s programme of planned routine highway maintenance.
This year’s Annual National Spring Clean of motorways will start on Monday, April 20, and will continue for six weeks.
In addition there will be some selective cleaning of road signs which has already started. These operations will also overlap the first grass cutting starting on the trunk road network.
Richard Jones, head of SWTRA, said a wide variety of items can be collected during the spring clean operations on motorways.
He said: “These can include worn tyres, mobile phones, discarded televisions, furniture, fridges and often at this time of year includes tree cuttings, which have all been found, usually in areas where the motorway boundary fence stretches back towards residential areas.
“Over the course of a year the agency estimates that 8500 black bags of litter will be collected on the motorway.”
Motorists are being reminded that litter is not only a blight on our highways, but is also a criminal offence and can put a financial strain on agencies charged with the task of clearing it up.
“With volume of traffic on parts of the M4 exceeding 100,000, the amount of litter can quickly mount up,” added Mr Jones. “Not only is littering unsightly, but it can also be dangerous if blown into the face of vehicles and it can also be harmful to wildlife.”
As well as the two annual litter picking exercises, SWTRA also undertakes a daily routine safety inspection on all its motorways. If a problem location is identified, where littering creates a particular safety hazard, additional litter picking is undertaken.
Mr Jones said: “However the agency’s ability to react to these individual instances of littering does depend on having sufficient funding available within the motorway maintenance budget.
“Motorists are being urged to keep their litter in the car until they can dispose of it in a bin.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information contact Emma Gray on 01639 763359
