Snazy

Massive spill on the M25 this morning causing a 19 mile tailback (of idiots that dont check the traffic before leaving home lol)
But in the report it says the spill caused the road surface to catch light, hence they are now doing emergency resurfacing. Big job.

But how the hell did it catch light?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15538186

subaruturbo_18

Might i be bold enough to say this included you?

Snazy

You may..... but you would be wrong. I rarely go on the motorway without checking travel news first
besides I was fast asleep til 9am lol. And the train to work was fine.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

I would assume the crash/incident caused a fire which in turn lit the spilt fuel

Snazy

Thats the weird part, there is no mention of a fire on the written part of the report. Just the voiceover on the footage.
Guess I will never know. Either way, impressive turnaround to get it sorted in under 12 hours.

jef

iTrader: (13)

thought any fire would be front page news tbh.


its extremley difficult to ignite diesel in that form tbh, not saying its impossible, but would need a lengthy exposure to naked flame.

we use on many fire scenarios and we use a gas lance directly onto it, somtetimes takes up to 1-2 full minutes to actually catch even with the flame directly onto it

Snazy

Thats what I thought too jef. Just wondering if the words melt and burn have been jumbled up by the usually accurate media lol. Would also imagine it would have cause one hell of a noticable cloud of smoke til they got it put out (maybe not noticable @ 3am lol)

BOB.T

Why can't they always resurface a road that quick?

howellsy42

Diesel kills tarmac it makes the binder that holds it all together (tar) to dissolve but it takes a little while but it does make it very slippy as well. if fuel is spilt on a motorway it's nearly always resurfaced before traffic can be allowed to use it again cost a lot of money to do

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

The pikeys use diesel to melt freshly laid tarmac so they can dig it up and lay it a micron thick on your grass as your new driveway.

Richy P1984

I think what they ment to say was the road surface was 'spoiled' by the spilt diesel. It would have completely impregnated the road surface and would of caused massive environmental problems, not to mention the safety issues.

Could the surface of suffered from a chemial burn either from the diesel or the chemicals they used to clean it up with.

Lets just hope they were able to maintain the pollution incident to the highway drainage network, and that it didnt enter any local waterbodies - The EA wont be fond of that!

Will be interesting to see if anyone is prosecuted over this.

Richy P1984

Contrator / Designer?

Snazy

Aaaah cheers for the explaination on the melt, all makes sense now.

Well done again to those dealing with it, road open and flowing fine today.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Had a petrol spill on my driveway and I now have a patch/ trail where the fuel was :~(

jonc

I think the Highways Agency performed on an epic scale in getting the workforce and equiptment in for the clearup and repair operation, clear up the spill, dig up a whole section of the 4 lane motorway and resurface it and get all the equipement back out, all within 24 hours! Why can't other roadworks be that efficient!!!

Snazy

Cos this was done for the filming of "Extreme Makeovers, Roads Edition" Was just a big media stunt. Should be being aired early Dec

howellsy42

Contrator/dogs body/ road planer operator

Richy P1984

Ah I see, makes sense.

Jonc - Highways Agency had nothing to do with it. It would of been down to the Managing Agent / Contractors working on the M25 contract. If it involved the HA, We'd still be having meetings about it!

howellsy42

From what I heard who ever got there first or said they could get there first got the job of ripping it out and re doing it was a first come first serve

Moley

iTrader: (9)

It's amazing how quick it can be done when they know the insurers of the lorry will be footing the bill, rather than the council/government