Motorway's A Block Buster

Forget yellow brick, UK drivers will soon be able to drive on a white polystyrene road! The huge blocks of high-grade material - more commonly associated with coffee cups and packaging - are a novel solution to an engineering headache.

Auto Express Car Reviews

24th June 2004

Work is being carried out on the M60 in Manchester, but because of the nearby River Mersey, the earth is too soft to support the shale normally used to build slip road embankments. So engineers are using polystyrene blocks as a light- weight replacement. Once covered with a waterproof membrane, the slope will get a conventional road surface, and be able to support thousands of cars each day.

Project manager Graham Dakin said: "Polystyrene is the best solution on this ground." He added that drivers will not notice any difference from a conventional highway. The slip road, which uses 1,500 of the ΂£100 giant cubes, will open to traffic in 2006.