New road builds are important for economic growth, reducing congestion, and increasing access to important areas.
New road drainage systems are an essential part of any road construction project, as they prevent road damage and flooding and improve road safety.
At Lanes Drainage Services, we have a specialist highways division that allows us to provide highways sector clients with our comprehensive drain, sewer and waste removal services all across the UK.
When new roads are built, new drain lines need to be fitted alongside the roads.
It’s important to clean and survey all new drain lines installed along the roads to ensure they are fit for purpose, clean, and ready when the roads are opened.
Jet vac tankers and CCTV drain cameras are deployed to clean and survey the drain lines before the new roads can be deemed safe enough to open.
As weather patterns have become more volatile due to climate change, highway drainage systems have had to become more sophisticated to maintain road safety, reduce the risk of flooding, and prevent pollution of natural water courses.
This has included building additional capacity to manage sudden changes in flow rates and higher water volumes and to manage the safe disposal of water through large attenuation and water treatment systems.
Highway drainage is water, debris and pollution that lands on footpaths and roads and goes down the public sewer.
Surface water drainage is water, debris and pollution which lands on homes and private property and goes down the public sewer.
At Lanes, we cover both domestic and commercial drains in need of cleaning and surveying to ensure they don’t get blocked and cause damage or floods.
Our drainage experts are available around the clock for individuals and businesses, so that there is always a team at hand to help with any drain, sewer or septic tank-related issue.
If you’re a homeowner with a property connected to the public sewer network then you have a responsibility for anything that enters the wastewater network from your property. This also includes fixing anything blocking the drains on your private property.
The local council, WaSC, and the UK’s Highways Agency share responsibility for the public sewer system in your area.
If you are unsure whether you are responsible for a blocked sewer drain, you can read our guide to blocked sewer drain responsibility.
When new roads are built the drains are built at the same time as the earthworks process.
Road construction projects can take years to build with the earthworks process often taking one summer to finish.
During construction, we work alongside contractors to survey any drains that cover the length of the road with our high-tech CCTV drainage cameras.
The footage captured allows us to check that the drain is in working order whilst the tankering team gets ready to clean the drains with our state-of-the-art jet vac units.
Once we confirm the road drains’ condition and demonstrate to authorities that they have been installed to a high quality the road can be opened.
How often a road drain should be cleaned depends on the type of road and its risk of flooding.
Grids and gullies are inspected and cleaned by local authorities to ensure road safety.
Usually, main roads, flood-prone areas, highways, and urban class A road drains are cleaned and surveyed more frequently than unclassified and rural non-flood-prone areas.
Contact a member of our drainage team today if you would like to survey your drains to check their condition and safety.