About this project

We can all find journeys through and around street works challenging at times. It is recognised that when we travel through these, there's an inevitable level of inconvenience. However, our tolerance level quickly diminishes if there are avoidable obstructions or signage is unclear, or the layout puts us in vulnerable situations.

This image shows an overhead light with an arrow and a disabled wheelchair symbol.

“The Person I care for refused to cross the road to avoid the barriers put up on pavement because of Street work. This caused a lot of commotion and a lot of anxiety and was time consuming”

Carer

This image shows a white man with crutches

“Trying to navigate around the streetworks means moving into the road and having to navigate differing heights of paving/kerbs causing trip hazards”

Advocate

This image shows a white lady in a motorised wheelchair

“The needs of able-bodied pedestrians are catered for, more often than not, but for cyclists, and often people in wheelchairs, roadworks often force us into far more danger than we would normally encounter at the point of the works”

Wheelchair user

Steer has been working with several Utility companies to explore solutions for minimising the impact of the streetworks on the public, to ensure that they are accessible for all and that no one is inconvenienced beyond an acceptable degree. We believe that there are three main ways of addressing these challenges.

Firstly, creating an audit tool to help Utility Workers understand the impact of street works across the range of different customers, including those that could be put in vulnerable situations because of these works.

Secondly, we're looking at ways of communicating with customers to ensure that they can receive the information about streetworks in a helpful way.

Thirdly, we're looking at the design of major equipment such as ramps, barriers, or ways of minimising and shortening the duration of the works. This is helping developers to bring out best practices and ensure these options are known to the general utility sector.

How can I get involved?

We'd love you to help with this project!

We're looking for those with lived experience, advocates, developers, and operatives to provide feedback on our work and collaborate with us to improve things.

Who’s funding this project?

This project is facilitated through the EIC, and funded by Northern Gas Networks, Scotia Gas Networks, Wales & West Utilities, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, Cadent, and Northern Power Grid.