Streets Ahead, Sheffield City Council’s highways delivery service has reported that 18 miles of road and 38 miles of pavements will have been resurfaced this year, bringing the grand total to 1,791 miles of pavement and 901 miles of roads completed since the contract began in 2012.

Despite two national lockdowns and multiple tier restrictions placed on the city, the council’s highways improvement programme being delivered by Streets Ahead has continued with staff safety remaining a priority throughout, it said.

Darren Butt, Account Director at Streets Ahead said: “We purposely chose streets in the city centre to focus on at the beginning of the year. By March, we knew that traffic volumes were going to be much reduced and we wanted to stay away from residential areas and the local hospitals, where many streets are too narrow to accommodate our workforce which makes social distancing challenging.”

Mr Butt added: ,“Our workforce formed work bubbles early on, using the same vehicles for work and not coming into the depot at all wherever possible to minimise the risks to their health and members of the public.”

Cabinet member for Environment, Street Scene and Climate Change at Sheffield City Council, Councillor Mark Jones said:“2020 has been a really challenging year for us all and the impact on businesses across the city has been unprecedented. In spite of this, Amey have been able to continue delivering vast amounts of highway upgrades in Sheffield by adapting to different ways of working and focussing on areas where footfall and traffic flow was significantly reduced due to the pandemic.

“It’s not been easy to navigate through the changing restrictions but as a result of careful planning and the ability to be flexible when needed, essential resurfacing works have continued, ensuring that our highway network remains fit for purpose and safe for all users.”