Lengthy delays are being seen in and around Newport this morning (Sunday) as a result of the closure of the dual carriageway for ‘maintenance works’.
The road – which keeps the traffic flowing through the county town – has been closed since 06:00.
No traffic can use either lanes on the road with it blocked at all access points.
It was hoped that works – which include cutting the grass at the side of the road – would be completed by 10:00 but the road remains closed.
Other works that were undertaken include lamppost and sign maintenance.
Heavy traffic is being seen on roads such as Hunnycross Way and Holyrood Street just to name a few as motorist look to navigate the closure.
The closure of Quay Street due to a large sinkhole is also causing issues meaning one of the only ways out of Newport towards Coppins Bridge is down High Street.
With shops now opening and people out and about seeing their family on Mothering Sunday traffic is expected to stay heavy until the road is re-opened.
UPDATE @ 10:30 – Traffic is now once again flowing in the lane heading towards Coppins Bridge from St Mary’s Junction.
UPDATE @ 11:00 – The road is now completely open once again.
pathetic as uasual just to cut grass
Another complete balls up by island roads they are an utter joke. Seen an ambulance trying to navigate with lights around copping Bridge hopefully the patient on board was OK for copping it was grid locked. Also has any one drove along Park Road from Briddlesford Road for when you get at the junction with Lushington Hill have a look at the 50mph signs one is on the wrong side put there by idiots.
Really? Traffic chaos just to cut the grass!
Great planning on IR’s part, did they not know it was Mother’s Day?
As usual, some idiot in County Hall decides that keeping it open while the grass is cut would violate our ridiculous health & safety laws so they inconvenience everyone while it’s done. It could have been cut in the middle of the night or in the early hours but no, that would be too simple. As it turns out, they’ve missed a bit so no doubt the same idiot will be planning another closure at rush hour to get it finished. Stop the bus again, I’ve missed my stop!
Well of course it would be dangerous to keep it open. Don’t you know how bad the driving is on this island by some? They floor it along there, would you want to work there with speeding cars just feet away from you?
My comment is, could the work not have been done at night with flood lights?
Let me think, cut grass on a busy dual carriageway or close it for a couple of hours to do it safely? Tough decisions there!!
It was more than just grass cutting, there were cheery pickers up at lamp posts and other crews working on the dual carriageway as well like they do every year.
Maybe if somebody didn’t move the road closed signs and open the road up putting workers’ lives in danger with traffic travelling at 70mph past them, then maybe the work would have finished on time.
The selfishness here is the moron who opened the road up while workers were still working there.
Also, maybe spare a moment for these contractors who are working on Mothering Sunday, they are out on the roads on a Sunday morning from 6am keeping the roads safe while others, who are lucky enough, spend time with their mothers.
Maybe they volunteered to avoid their mothers-in-law.
Or they could just enforce a 20mph speed limit like other countries do when work is undertaken, get the police out with their cameras (they are good at that!) & enforce fines for the idiots who cant read numbers
Not rocket science
Pretty sure the police can only camera in designated zones where they have speed camera signs up. Good idea though.
Well said, Luke. And – “Mothering Sunday”. How refreshing to read those words of love, rather than “Mother’s Day”.
Mother’s Day .. what a joke.. There We Are Then…why not do it like the others said at a time when there’s less traffic ? Those contractors are getting a pretty penny for doing it on a Sunday weather it’s Mothering Sunday or not.. so interesting when we do see the people that work for the council, you spend a good hour watching while they do nothing but stand around havin a fag !! Our council are 100% useless when it comes to our island..
Im fairly certain these workers volunteered to do this shift based on the overtime so don’t try and make the island tax payer feel sorry for them. How about Island Roads and/or the contractor show us the bill for cutting the grass on a Sunday morning compared to cutting grass in the middle of a weekday night? Would you also be prepared to show your risk assessment that lead to the conclusion of full dual carriageway closure? Have you ever left this little island and looked at how the big boys on the mainland control and maintain their highways? You’ve already had a few sensible suggestions here from people whom probably don’t work in your sector.
Praise to the moron that moved the cones, common sense never prevails
It’s their job! If you apply for a Job knowing you’ll work weekends then whose faults that?
Where’s everyone going?
Could they off not leave 1 lane open
Could you not have constructed a coherent sentence?
Dosent matter what they were doing do it at night morons utter morons
Not sure who the Utter Morons are here?.. I live nearby and several times I saw drivers moving the cones so they could drive up the closed off road. Then the island road workers had to put the signs and cones back which held them up from getting the job done. Maybe if the ‘Utter Morons” hadn’t moved the signs and disrupted the work, potentially risking other people’s lives in the process, the work would have been done a lot quicker.
We pay all this money to be able to drive our cars, including tax, insurance, M.O.T and running costs etc, but we have no value for money nor sympathy from the idiots that that let these things happen (Council and Highways) and do little about it, until there are no other options and it’s too late!!… Sack the !@*&%^’s and compensate us poor things for the problems and difficulties that we have to endure, because of such patheticism!!
Why didn’t they just let the grass grow? They do on the rest of the verges, claiming it is good for the wild life, wild flowers etc.
What on earth were they thinking? Another classic Island traffic masterclass!!!
Why can they not carry out works at night when there is considerably less traffic? Just like work is undertaken overnight in London inner, national motorways and the railways.
It’s a dual carriage way, why not just close the inside/slow lane?