Can temporary roadways turn corners?

A commonly asked question about temporary roadways is whether or not they can turn corners, bearing in mind the straight edges of the timber mats used to construct them.

Temporary corners?

The short answer to this is yes, they can – and you will see many images on the Timbermat website of where timber mats have been used to build snaking temporary roadways to suit the lay of the land.

In fact there are several options when you need to turn a bend, and if the corner is a right-angle, or close to it, then you can usually turn your roadway domino-style by laying the next roadway mat to the side instead of on the end.

But in many cases the machinery you are using might not be able to navigate such a tight corner, and in this case the solution occurs quite naturally too.

Timber mats lend themselves to fairly gentle curves, while large vehicle tyres or tracked plant should have no problems traversing any slight gaps that develop as a result of the curve.

In this sense the nature of the problem – namely the size of the machinery you wish to transport along your temporary roadways – also becomes part of the natural solution.

Finally, ask yourself if it is really necessary to turn the corner at all, or if bog mats can provide a more direct route to make it easier for your machinery or vehicles to navigate.

Versatile Roadways

Straight temporary roadways inherently offer the most direct access, which will usually also mean the fastest and easiest movement of machinery.

Bog mats can cover relatively unstable or waterlogged ground, as well as levelling out any minor variations in ground level – potentially creating a direct route on to a site that would otherwise be difficult to drive on to at all.

If you are unsure how to install timber mats in a difficult place, give us a call now and a member of our team can advise you on which bog mats will work the best.