Enhancing the safety of our road maintenance workers

Národná diaľničná spoločnosť, a.s. (National Motorway Company) has added a new safety feature to provide for enhanced safety of long-term roadwork sites, i.e. sites where the roadworks take longer than 24 hours (e.g. a motorway pavement is being repaired or a bridge closure is being replaced). A series of concrete crash barriers will protect road workers from crashes and injuries.

These barriers will replace the previous protection of the worksite with a cover vehicle with a light arrow. This measure will prevent vehicles or trucks from entering the worksite and reduce the costs of eventual repairs or the need to purchase new cover vehicles, thus having a positive effect on the depreciation of the fleet of the National Motorway Company.

Over the past three months, we have recorded 7 incidents of a collision with the cover vehicle or the Motorway Patrol of the National Motorway Company. 

Motorway or expressway worksites, where the asphalt topcoat is being replaced or a bridge is being repaired, are secured with over a dozen traffic signs warning of the reduced speed limit and lane change, and warning signaling panels with arrow boards and safety thresholds are being placed in front of the worksite. This safety equipment will be supplemented by concrete barriers placed diagonally across the driving lane in which the roadworks are being carried out.      

“The concrete crash barriers will contribute to better safety of our road workers by preventing vehicles from getting into the area of the worksite, and our heavy-duty vehicle with or without a driver does not have to provide safety cover of the worksite and can be used elsewhere,” noted Mr. Rastislav Droppa, the Operations Section Director of the National Motorway Company.  

Concrete crash barriers will be put in place before the start of the roadworks and will be removed when the works are finished. An additional safety feature will be the use of speed cameras displaying the actual speed of driving. 

Over the next few months, road pavement repairs will be carried out on the following sections of motorways and expressways in Slovakia: D2 near Malacky, D1 near Trnava, D1 near Považská Bystrica, D1 near Liptov, and R4 near Košice. Replacement of bridge closures will be done on 8 bridges, and on 4 bridges there will be works consisting of guardrail renovation, drainage repairs, and rehabilitation of ledges.