What is a road construction survey?
A road survey is a critical part of road construction and maintenance. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the landscape, including natural and manmade features. Surveying an existing road provides an accurate record of the starting point, ready for any changes.
These pre-construction road surveys are vital for good, efficient road design and construction. They can also be a crucial part of highway surveys, ensuring new roads can meet highway safety standards.
An as built survey of a completed new road enables developers or construction companies to demonstrate that the road has been built as planned and to the correct standards.
We perform topographical surveys for existing road infrastructure and our setting out services can further help to ensure accurate road construction. We also offer as built road surveys for newly completed roads on residential and commercial estates, including any new access roads.
When do you need a road survey?
Changes to an existing road
Our topographical surveys to support road design identify elevation changes and any natural features that may affect proposed road changes. This can be used to inform new road design and construction in any civil engineering schemes.
New internal roads and access roads
New residential developments or commercial or industrial estates usually require new access roads as well. Our topographical surveys inform the design of these connecting roads to link new developments to existing highways.
Visibility splay requirements
A visibility splay is an important part of road safety, especially for junctions and driveways. Ensuring drivers have a clear, unobstructed view at junctions helps to prevent accidents and maintain safe traffic flow. Our road surveys enable highways engineers with visibility splay planning for new estate roads and access connections.
Evidence of correct construction
An as-built road survey can be used to provide stakeholders, including funders, statutory bodies and accreditation schemes, with evidence that a new road and/or pavement has been constructed as planned.
Public authority infrastructure records
Local authorities may require an as-built road survey to ensure proper records, public transparency and as a reference for future repairs, changes or upgrades to the road.
What is included in our road construction surveys?
Why is quality road survey data so important?
The design and construction of new roads requires accurate data about the existing infrastructure. Road survey data contributes to infrastructure planning. Topographical surveys enable engineers to plan efficient drainage systems, which includes ensuring that roads are graded for drainage properly.
High quality road surveys enable more cost-effective and efficient construction. Good survey data is needed for well-designed roads. In the long-term, good road design also reduces maintenance needs and prolongs the road’s lifespan.
New roads need to be designed and constructed to certain standards. Any new development’s internal roads will be considered private until they are adopted by the local county council. The roads will have to meet the required standards if they are to be adopted as public highways.
Survey data can highlight existing vegetation and environmental features. Careful analysis and the right planning can then ensure that any new road construction protects natural resources and wildlife habitats. It can also help to identify potential hazards. Design teams can use this data to increase safety for road users and pedestrians around new developments.
Speak to our experts
Get free advice or a quote from our experienced team.
We’re known for our reliable, quality service and attention to detail.
How is a road survey carried out?
Our topographical road surveys can often be carried out by a single surveyor, although we may need a bigger team for complex or overgrown sites. We use a robotic total station and a GPS kit for accurate surveying. This allows us to coordinate to Ordnance Survey grid level with relative accuracy of +/- 20mm. Our surveying equipment also enables us to work to a lower tolerance where needed.
We will arrange all access requirements with you in advance. We need to be able to survey roads safely from the road edge or pavement. If we cannot do this without traffic management, we will inform you and ask for this to be arranged.
Occasionally, there are circumstances when a site visit has to be postponed. These include severe weather, access issues or restrictions on site that impact our ability to carry out the survey.
Once the survey has been successfully completed on site, the surveyor will need time in the office. They will process the data and create your survey drawing.
Do we keep your road survey data on record?
The industry standard for keeping road survey data is 7 years. However, we keep all road survey data in perpetuity. This means that if you need to refer to it for future projects, we’ll have it ready for you to access.
Who we work with
How we work
Step 01
Request a quote
We’ll need your project’s address and a site plan. We’ll then get in touch for a consultation to confirm site details and understand exactly what your project needs.
Step 02
Quote accepted
Once your project is confirmed with us, we’ll arrange a convenient date for your survey.
Step 03
We complete your survey
We’ll visit your project site to carry out the survey. We can meet you on site if needed. We will then process the survey data and create a survey drawing.
Step 04
Receive your survey
We’ll share the survey data with you, usually within a few days. We use industry standard file types and can issue all the drawings in multiple formats.
Why choose Cheshire Surveys
We provide a range of surveys and related services across the North West, Cheshire, North Staffordshire and North Wales.
Passion & technical expertise
25+ years experience
Quality services tailored to your project
Meet our team on site
More surveys we offer
Topographical Surveys
Accurate, scaled plan of a site’s terrain, and a record of the position and levels of both manmade and natural features.
Measured Building Surveys
3D site survey of a building’s layout and structure that can also be used to produce floor plans, elevations and cross-section drawings.
As-Built Surveys
A fully up-to-date record of what has just been constructed, ensuring it matches the proposed plans. Useful for producing further plans that require an accurate site layout.
Boundary Surveys
Clearly understand your boundary lines, remove uncertainty around neighbouring land, and prevent disputes.
Floor Level Surveys
Quality survey check for various floor construction stages, from existing floors to newly constructed slabs.
Garden Surveys
Highly detailed, specialist topographical survey for garden landscaping and redesigns.
GPS Surveys
Ideal for covering large open spaces, like fields, or where access may be restricted or challenging.
Ground Investigation Services
Reliable and accurate location data for ground investigations like CBR tests, boreholes and trial pits. We record data and mark out investigation and monitoring points.
Movement Monitoring Surveys
Tracking and recording movement or alterations, such as crack monitoring and land movements, in either a built structure or a landform.
River & Floodplain Surveys
Surveys of riverbanks and beds, as well as adjacent floodplains. We record water levels and significant features for flood risk assessments and erosion monitoring.
Road Surveys
Comprehensive record of current road layouts and levels, including kerbs, street furniture and road markings. Ideal for visibility splays and new highways designs.
Setting Out
Geocordinated setting out services for building groundworks and steelworks for new housing, commercial and industrial sites.
Surveys for Land Registry Title Plans
Site surveys for creating Land Registry compliant plans to record areas of sale, transfer, correction or first registration.
Volumetric Surveys & Terrain Models
Measuring the total amount of stockpiled, extracted or collected materials and aggregates. Suitable for construction, calculating and auditing.
