The Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency, on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government, commissioned Ceredigion County Council to redesign the Llanbadarn Fawr Junction on the outskirts of Aberystwyth. This resulted in the introduction of two mini-roundabouts with associated pedestrian refuge islands.
Through early contractor involvement it became apparent that the construction work using conventional methods would cause significant delays and disruption to vehicular and pedestrian traffic over quite a long construction period.
Subsequently, Road-Pod was developed by Charcon, with assistance from WT Burdens, as a result of a request from Ceredigion County Council, for a purpose built pre-cast concrete island unit to be fabricated which would allow quick installation on site.
Following on from the successful use of the pre-cast units at Llanbadarn Fawr, and working together on the design, different combinations of the product were developed over a six month period, which have all been subsequently installed with the required rapid construction time achieved at each site.
Alun Hughes, Projects Engineer for Ceredigion County Council, Partnerships and Operations Group, says: “This is an excellent example of partnership working to secure a solution to a difficult problem. When we visited the sites a number of different options for Road-Pod were outlined for the various locations, so Charcon could refine the bollard mounting, illumination and electrical connections, to get an end product everyone was happy with.”
“The trials in Wales show that the use of Road-Pod can cut the time normally taken to install all the elements down to just three hours, which will be of benefit to pedestrians, motorists, local authorities and contractors alike. Another advantage of these units is that they are maintenance free once installed.”
Alun Hughes, Projects Engineer, Ceredigion County Council