An hour in the life of a highways engineer

Even a small project to improve a local road can make a real difference. This is the attitude the highways team, where I work as an assistant engineer, brings to every job - and it’s particularly important when you are working on a small island.

Jersey is just ten miles wide and five miles long; materials for road construction and other resources like labour are limited, while there are fewer options than on the mainland for waste management. The island’s landfill site is almost full.

Working on roads, of course, also makes us very visible. It’s very important for my team to engage with residents - especially during a public health crisis. During the first lockdown, we adapted, and ramped up, our use of social media to keep people well informed about our projects, helping to build positive relationships.

We have to work smart if we’re going to efficiently manage and deliver high quality road improvements – with local support. So once a week all our teams meet to review how new projects might best be carried out. We challenge each other’s designs making the most of our collective experience and knowledge.

We also consider which materials have the least impact on the environment while delivering the performance we need. For example, where possible we use micro asphalt - a mixture of aggregates and bitumen emulsions – as it can be laid much thinner. In turn, this means less material is needed, and the project has a lower level of embodied carbon.

My team’s efforts as #wspchangemakers, means that our role within Jersey’s Department for Infrastructure has grown beyond delivering highway improvements. We are a genuine partner rather than just a supplier.