A40 utility works update

from HS2
What we are doing

Utility works on the A40 Western Avenue
We wrote to you in April about works on the A40 Western Avenue planned between 6 May and 30 September 2024. Due to ongoing works on the road network in Ealing, the start date for the works on the A40 Western Avenue has changed.

We are now planning to start our works on the A40 Western Avenue from 27 May until late-October 2024. The works will be located between Alperton Lane and Hanger Lane Gyratory.

On 20, 21 and 22 May from 10pm to 5am, an overnight lane closure will be in place on the A40 Western Avenue to install cameras.

Temporary changes to A40 tunnels
We will need to close the A40 tunnels overnight while the contraflow system is introduced, for safety reasons. This is during the first phase of the works. The tunnels will be closed overnight from 10pm to 6am with all traffic diverted via Hanger Lane Gyratory. You can view details about traffic management planned during each phase of the works via the link to the presentation in the link below.

We are not planning to close the tunnels during the remainder of the works. If there are any changes to our planned traffic management, we will provide updates via the HS2 in your area map.

We will continue working with utility providers, Transport for London and Ealing Council to coordinate works on the local road network, wherever possible.
https://www.hs2.org.uk/work-items/change-of-date-for-utility-works-on-a40-western-avenue/#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=e4f9999d-a774-40b2-a0dc-f81eaa1fc956

Breakspear Road South today/tomorrow

    from HS2

    3rd Party works – 2-Way Traffic Lights on Breakspear Road South Sat 27/04 & Sun 28/04

    We have been made aware of some 3rd Party works on behalf of Affinity Water that will require the use of 2-Way Temporary Traffic Lights this weekend on Breakspear Road South near the junction with Tile Kiln Lane. 

    The works will be taking place on Sat 27/04 and may also carry on into Sun 28/04 but they will be completed as quickly as possible to minimise any delays.
     

    Notice of Extended Hours Working for Concrete Pours at West Ruislip Portal – Final Pour Scheduled for Tue 30/04

    HS2/SCS have received consent from LBH to carry out some long continuous concrete pours for the construction of the 2 Attenuation Tanks over extended hours within the West Ruislip Portal Site.

    These concrete pours are taking place over 3 different days with the 1st pour taking place on Tue 09/04 and the 2nd pour taking place Thur 18/04. After this there is now scheduled to be a final pour on Tue 30/04 but it is not expected to take as long as previously thought so should not require use of all of the extended hours up until midnight. SCS have been granted consent to carry out the pours between 6am and midnight on these dates

    A bit of a catch up – HS2 mainly

    Ickenham Road Lane Closure for 3rd Party Works – Sun 24/03 at 10pm to Mon 25/03 at 5am
    HS2 Community Event for SCS – Wed 27/03 in
    TBM Segment Delivery by Lorry to West Ruislip
    Forward Planning – Breakspear Rd South – Road Closure under Railway Bridge for Culvert works 
     
     
     Ickenham Road Lane Closure for 3rd Party Works – Sun 24/03 at 10pm to Mon 25/03 at 5am
     
    I have been informed by the LBH Streetworks Team that they have granted Affinity Water a Permit to undertake works to a water leak on the Bridge on Ickenham Road (between the Tube Station and HS2 West Ruislip Portal Site Entrance).
     
    The works will commence on Sun 24/03 at 10pm with a Lane Closure (Eastbound Lane) in place until 5am on Mon 25/03.
     
    The Traffic Management should be clear in time for Monday morning rush hour as long as everything goes to plan (Map below showing location of works on Ickenham Road):

     
    HS2 Community Event for SCS – Wed 27/03 in Ickenham
     
    There is a Community Drop-In Event this coming week for SCS:
     

    • Wednesday 27/03/24 – SCS Drop-In Event held between 4pm and 7pm at Ickenham United Reformed Church, Swakeleys Rd, Ickenham, Uxbridge UB10 8BE

    To discuss ongoing works in Hillingdon with the Project Team and share recent Drone Footage
     
    No need to book in advance please feel free to attend any time between 4pm and 7pm

     
    TBM Segment Delivery by Lorry to West Ruislip
     
    LBH have received a request from HS2/SCS for up to 24 lorries per day (Mon to Sat) to bring Segments for the TBMs into the West Ruislip Portal by road during the hours of 8am to 10pm.
     
    With both TBMs now once again tunnelling at full capacity they seem to be going at a much faster rate than previously thought (tunnelling up to 22 metres per day). When SCS calculated their requirements to keep the TBMs serviced with Segments last year they were working on the assumption that the TBMs would not tunnel more than 15 metres per day, so they would need approx. 700 Segments per week.
     
    This was managed with the overnight Rail Deliveries of Segments into West Ruislip Portal, with 5 Trains per week each delivering 140 Segments (equalling the required 700 Segments per week).
     
    With the increased speed of the tunnelling SCS now require additional Segments to keep the TBMs running, and as they cannot get any more than 5 Trains per week into West Ruislip due to limitations with capacity with Network Rail, the only solution is to bring in the additional Segments that are required by road. It has also been the case that with Rail Strikes more frequent over the last few months there have been a few occasions where SCS are only getting 3-4 deliveries by Rail per week.
     
    The lorries would all use the existing Approved Lorry Route entering West Ruislip Portal (via Swakeleys Roundabout, Swakeleys Road, Ickenham Road) and return using the same route. The majority of these deliveries would be expected to be carried out during Core Working Hours (Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm & Sat 8am to 1pm) but there may be up to 6 lorry deliveries each day that fall outside the Core Hours and would be delivered up to 10pm.
     
    LBH have agreed that SCS can trial these deliveries by road now until the end of April, with SCS will carrying out Engagement with residents to advise of the additional lorries delivering the Segments.
     
    LBH will continue to review the situation before committing to allow this to be extended until around August 2024 (which is the current requested date). LBH did question the viability of bringing the lorries in along Swakeleys Road, Ickenham Road into the West Ruislip Portal, but were advised that due to maintenance works due to take place on the internal Haul Roads it would not be feasible at the outset to route the lorries via either Harvil Rd Gate 2 or Breakspear Rd South (and along the Haul Roads to the Portal).
     
    Please note that there will be no additional lorries over the agreed 550 lorry movements per day around Swakeleys Roundabout with these additional Segment deliveries built into that daily limit. Over the last few months there has been a noticeable drop off in the amount of HS2 lorries delivering to the HS2 Sites in Hillingdon, so these deliveries should not cause any additional impact to our Road Network in the north of the borough.
     
    In summary:
     

    • SCS Requesting up to 24 Segment lorry deliveries each day during extended hours – 8am to 10pm Mon to Sat
    • 24 lorries x 6 days = (144 lorries / 3 segments per lorry = 432 segments)
    • In addition to up to 5 Train deliveries per week at Night (140 Segments per Train x 5 nights = 700)
    • Total amount of Segments per week = 1132
    • Of the 24 lorries per day it would be likely that up to 6 lorries would be delivering outside Core Hours (between 6-10pm)
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    • Mon 29/07 to Sun 11/08 (2 Weeks during School Summer Holidays)
    • Works to upgrade the existing Culvert to improve the drainage in the area
    • These works are expected to take up to 2 weeks to complete

     
    These works are the last large Road Closure in the HS2 Highways Programme in LBH and have been in the pipeline for over a year now. At present the existing Culvert near the Chiltern Line Bridge does not have the required capacity to take away water run off from the road and as a consequence this area of road is susceptible to flood related issues. The installation of a new Culvert will be able to handle a larger volume of water and should therefore lead to less of a threat of flooding in this area.

    Weekend travel

    The M25 will be closed between J10 – J11 (Chertsey – Wisley) from 9pm Friday to 6am Monday for the removal of (a) bridge.

    CIRCLE LINE: Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 March, no service between Hammersmith and Tower Hill. Trains will run between Edgware Road and Barking (via Victoria)

    HAMMERSMITH & CITY LINE: Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 March, no service between Paddington and Barking.

    METROPOLITAN LINE: Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 March, no service between Wembley Park and Aldgate

    HS2 project event 27/3

    from HS2
    please join us for a community event from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 27th March 2004 in Ickenham united reform church
    the SCS railway team will be on hand to update you and answer your questions on the following
    1 River Pinn Diversion
    2 Breakspear Rd South and River Pinn Embankment
    3 Community investment and Safety in schools
    The aerial drone footage of the areas between West Ruislip and Harvil Rd will be shown at this event

    HS2 piling works

    FROM HS2
    We’re writing to let you know about some planned works that we will be carrying out in your area.    From 11 March to 30 June 2024, we will be carrying out piling works at our Gate 2 site, in the area west of Breakspear Road South and north of the Chiltern Railways Line.
    These works are part of the construction of the eastern portal of the Copthall Tunnel.
    We do not expect any noise or vibration to disturbance nearby residents. Monitoring will be in place throughout these works. We will use water sprays to reduce dust generated by construction activities.   For further information please see our works notification.  https://www.hs2.org.uk/work-items/notice-of-piling-works-at-copthall-tunnel-site/
    We would like to apologise in advance for any disruption or inconvenience this may cause. Every effort is being taken to ensure that these works are carried out in the least impactful way.
    We will ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum.

    Cabinet approves library proposals

    Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet agrees Uxbridge Library relocation plans Thursday 15 February, 2024: The recommendation to relocate Uxbridge Library to the borough’s Civic Centre was approved by Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet tonight (Thursday 15 February) subject to planning approval being granted. https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/12365/Hillingdon-Councils-Cabinet-agrees-Uxbridge-Library-relocation-plans

    HS2 Christmas working hours

    Confirmation of HS2 Working Hours over Christmas and New Year period

    Please note that the HS2 Sites in Hillingdon will be closed over the Christmas and

    New Year period for both HS2 Contractors SCS and Align. Further details below:

    HS2/SCS

    Close on Fri 22/12/23 to Tue 02/01/24

    -Following LBH Sites: West Ruislip Portal, Breakspear Rd South, Newyears

    Green Lane (NSPA), SSPA, Harvil Rd Gate 1 (Treatment Area), Harvil Rd

    Gate 2 (Copthall Tunnel)

    Skeleton crew throughout Christmas period

    -Return to work with a safety day on Tue 02/01/24

    Close on Day Shift of Sat 23/12 to Late Shift on 03/01/24

    -Tunnelling Team – includes TBMs and all above ground activities such as

    Conveyors

    -Skeleton crew throughout Christmas period

    -Return to work Late Shift on Wed 03/01/24

    HS2/Align

    Close on Fri 22/12/23 to Tue 02/01/24

    -Construction of Colne Valley Viaduct

    -Skeleton crew throughout Christmas period for maintenance, Site safety and security

    -Return to work on Tue 02/01/24

    Uxbridge Library proposals

    From Ickenham Residents.

    the council has deferred taking the Uxbridge library move proposal to cabinet to allow for a period of public engagement. This consists of email feedback to: librarycontact@hillingdon.gov.uk i.e. we have a chance to register objections, or it will be assumed we have none. The more emails the council receives will make the residents position clearer. So can I ask you to share this with all those that are likely to take an interest in Uxbridge library?

    The council project leader for the library has said he is not aware of any other mechanism such as a public consultation. So. to register an opinion, an email needs to be sent to the above address. This should include reasons, which the council can consider. I’m suggesting emails go to both the library contact and to your local ward councillor, because at the full council meeting voting on the library was split along party lines, with the  Conservatives for the proposed move and Labour against. Our councillors’ emails are available at https://modgov.hillingdon.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx?XXR=0&AC=WARD&WID=13412& search on ickenham and South Harefield ward The council officer leading this project and has made it clear that the information they have provided is all they have at the moment. So there is no proposed home for the history and archive section. This information from the contractors plan be found at: https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/uxbridge-library-relocation Our assumption is that emails need to be in by the end of December for them to be assessed, a report written and for this to be digested by the councillors, prior to cabinet.