Drain cleaning and surveying supports vital road scheme

Drainage expertise from Lanes Group plc is supporting the construction of a new road that will reduce congestion and pollution in a Cheshire town and bring new job opportunities to the area.

Lanes drainage teams are providing highway drain cleaning and CCTV drainage survey services for the building of the Congleton Link Road, a new 5.7km bypass for Congleton.

The road is being built by construction and civil engineering specialist, GRAHAM on behalf of Cheshire East Council. It will join the A534 Sandbach Road, west of Congleton, with the A536 Macclesfield Road to the north of the town.

The Lanes Manchester depot is providing GRAHAM with drain cleaning and surveying services throughout the programme to build the road, which is due to open in early this year.

Lanes Area Development Manager Ian Clapham said: “We’ve been supporting GRAHAM since January 2020, first by surveying the existing drainage system along the length of the new link road.

“Since the summer, we’ve also been cleaning and surveying all new drain lines installed along the road to ensure they are fit for purpose, clean and ready when the road is opened.

“We’re very pleased to be supporting GRAHAM on a project that will benefit many people living and working in and around Congleton. The road will improve the quality of life for thousands of people and create opportunities for economic regeneration.”

Lanes teams are expected to have worked on the scheme for a total of at least 12 weeks across the total length of the construction programme.

Each time, a jet vac tanker and a CCTV drainage survey unit has been deployed to clean and survey drain lines ranging in diameter from 150mm to 450mm.

Lanes drainage engineers have used robotic cameras to record HD quality video footage along pipe runs, allowing GRAHAM to confirm their condition and demonstrate to Cheshire East Council that they have been installed to a high quality.

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 in 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.