Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
also got to trudge across muddy fields doing survey work for the power lines
Ah, happy days! When I was working for a big civil engineers back in the early 1980s, they absorbed what was originally the South Eastern Road Construction Unit of the Department of Transport which had been working on the then uncompleted M25. Part of the office was dealing with the Surrey sections through Reigate and up to the M4. I was part of the team working on what was known as the Poyle to M4 section. Vivid memories of traipsing across a landfill site right under the Heathrow take-off flightpath doing surveying. When Concorde took off, you had to stop because of the noise, and it seemed so low down you felt you could reach up and touch it.
Once that project was under construction, we moved on to improvements on the A3 from Stag Hill A31 to Milford. If anyone has negotiated the bridge that takes the B3000 across the "new" dual carriageway at Compton, I was responsible for the alignment. The proper qualified engineers had been fretting for ages over this bridge. Their computer programs kept making it a skew across, and that meant vast sums of money. It seemed the programs weren’t able to align the bridge at right angles to the main road. I spent a lunchtime with the drawings and the minimum requirements for large vehicle turning circles, and actually managed to get the alignment at right angles. There was muted rejoicing in the office, but I still haven’t seen a plaque on the bridge in my honour!
Mind you, it is tight. A couple of weeks ago I followed a large modern articulated lorry as the driver negotiated the junction. I was pleased that although it was obviously tight it wasn’t all that difficult. I always have visions of drivers of all sorts muttering about the tight turns I’ve lumbered them with!