Motorists will face 3 months of travel disruption from next week as Southern Water replaces an aging water pipe on the main road into Newport – Fairlee Road.
From Tuesday, Southern Water will be carrying out renewal works on a section of water mains on Fairlee Road and in Seaclose Park. The work will replace the pipework which has suffered a number of bursts in recent years and is part of on an ongoing investment programme to replace the worst sections.
It is hoped the work will cut the number of incidents, keep people in the area supplied with water and prevent supplies from being wasted.
The first section of pipe works to be renewed will be the 150 metres adjacent to the 1Leisure and Medina College entrance before working into Seaclose Park. It is expected the first phase, requiring temporary traffic lights, will last 5 to 6 weeks with the whole project taking around 12 weeks.
The work will finish at the end of the Medina footpath into the park.
To minimise disruption to the leisure centre and school, work will be done overnight to cross the entrance to the complex. It is expected it will take 2 to 3 nights to complete. Southern Water has said it will do its best to get the work completed as quickly and quietly as it can.
A Southern Water spokesperson has apologised for the traffic disruption the work will cause.
Island Roads has said it will monitor the water company’s progress and work to address any transport issues that may arise during the project. The spokesperson said:
“As a utility company, Southern Water has a legal right to undertake work to maintain and improve its infrastructure.
“While it is their responsibility to manage the traffic arrangements around the work, Island Roads will continue to work with them to ensure these arrangements cause as little disruption as possible.”
Residents of Fairlee Road have been sent a letter to tell them about the work and to assure them water supplies may not be affected and driveway access will be maintained at all times.
Users of the Medina 1 Leisure Centre have also been warned about the disruption that may occur.
Oh no. Awful disruption. I think it’s terrible.
Well hopefully they will leave the surface in such a mess that IR will finally be forced to do something about the entire road? Then again, the finished job by Southern Water however bad will probably be a whole lot better than what the rest of the road is like!
Anyone that wants some fun should try this road in each direction on the top deck of the bus! A better roller coaster than at Chessington!
They should issue free sea sickness pills to anyone having to use Fairlee Road, it’s in a disgraceful state.
There should be warning signs on sections of this road, it’s utterly disgraceful and unsafe in areas.
In one area, I think they are waiting for the bottom of vehicles to wear out the lump so they don’t have to fix it. You can see the scars on the road surface.
Maybe it will take an accident for them to do something.
Based on recent similar works in Brading and Ashey, Southern Water timescales should be converted to real world units by simply swapping weeks for months.
So, it looks like we’re in for about a year of pain.
(followed by two years of remedial works to sort out the mess)