D6.10HARD SHOULDER WORKING
D6.10.1 The guidance in this section only applies for stops of over 90 minutes duration. Guidance covering stops on the hard shoulder of up to 90 minutes duration is contained in the document "Guidance for works on the hard shoulder and road side verges on high speed dual carriageways." This is Highways Agency document IAN115/08 and it is available on the following website: www.standardsforhighways.co.uk. This document is not valid in Northern Ireland and guidance for short and medium duration inspection stops in Northern Ireland is given in Appendix A4.
D6.10.2 The requirements for signing on the hard shoulder are shown on Plan DC1. Designers need to take into account the fact that motorists in difficulty may need access to the coned-off area of the hard shoulder. However, signs advising drivers to use a coned-off area in the event of an emergency must not be used.
D6.10.3 The length of coned-off area should be limited to that required to provide safe access, works area/ working space and site exit. Excessive lengths of coning between discontinuous sites as a works link access route are to be avoided as the hard shoulder is primarily provided as a safety refuge for motorists in trouble who need to pull off the carriageway. Consideration should also be given to reducing the length of coned-off hard shoulder when there is no works activity.
D6.10.4 The risks associated with extending hard shoulder closures to provide continuous lengths between sites should be compared with those for providing more discrete hard shoulder closures and should take account of the need to provide safe refuge for motorists in trouble and safe haulage of plant between the sites.
D6.10.5 If the use of temporary vehicle restraint safety barriers is being considered by the designer, reference should be made to Section D3.10 and TD 19 "Requirement for road restraint systems" (DMRB 2.2.8).
D6.10.6 The "NO HARD SHOULDER FOR 400 YARDS" sign to diagram 7015 or variant should be used in advance of the closure where only the hard shoulder is closed or to be occupied by the works.
D6.10.7 The length of the hard shoulder works should be limited to 4 kilometres. Where the hard shoulder is removed from service for a length in excess of 1.5kms, provision of a free recovery operation should be considered, see Section D3.35 and paragraph D4.10.37.
D6.10.8 If a temporary mandatory speed limit is imposed, the initial temporary speed limit signs to diagram 670 should be located 100 m in advance of the initial closure of the hard shoulder, i.e. the first signing to Detail A. Repeater signs will be required through the works; see Table 3.4 in Section D3.7. A "road works" sign to diagram 7001 with distance plate to diagram 572 showing "1 mile" is required on the near side and off side one mile in advance of the initial closure, and a "road works" sign to diagram 7001 with distance plate "800yds" to diagram 572 is required on the near side (in place of the plate "On hard shoulder" to diagram 7001.1) and on the off side 800m in advance of the initial closure. An "end of road works" sign to diagrams 7001/645 is also required on the off side, as well as the near side.
D6.10.9 If works on the hard shoulder are undertaken close to exit slip roads (i.e. within 500m of the slip road), there may be additional risks to the workforce from diverging vehicles. In this case, additional protection may be required. Consideration should also be given to extending the closure to include the slip road hard shoulder, where one exists, to minimise the conflict between exiting works vehicles and main carriageway traffic.
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