Wootton’s Park Road will now remain closed until 23rd May – 2 weeks later than planned – with further upheaval expected when Briddlesford Road closes once again later this month.
The cut-through road, which was due to re-open this Friday (9th May), will instead remain shut for an additional 2 weeks while gas main replacement works continue.
This latest development means Park Road will have been closed from 21st March through to 23rd May – nearly 2 full months of disruption for residents and commuters. The closure has caused significant congestion on surrounding routes including Lushington Hill, Station Road, and through the busy Cedars junction.
Work taking place involves replacing a 400-metre section of 24-inch steel medium-pressure gas pipe with a new 450mm plastic pipe, including all necessary connection works to link it into the existing network. SGN says the project is essential to maintain a safe and reliable gas supply in the area.
Unfortunately, disruption is not set to end. Briddlesford Road is due to close once again from 27th May until 27th June for further gas pipe replacement works. This includes the period of the Isle of Wight Festival, although it is currently unclear whether the road will reopen during the event.
Briddlesford Road has already seen prolonged disruption in recent times. SGN began a £1.1million upgrade of the gas mains in the area in February 2023, originally planned as a 7-week scheme. However, less than a year later, the road was suddenly closed again without warning at the start of 2024, leading to a further 9 weeks of disruption before it finally reopened in March 2024.
Now, Briddlesford Road will be closed for another 4 weeks – if not longer.
Motorists are being advised to plan ahead and expect continued disruption in and around Wootton over the coming weeks.
Access to local businesses, such as Care in the Garden, continues to be maintained via Lushington Hill.
what puzzles me, is why IW Council (or IR) didn’t have the sense to change the timing on the trafic lights at the Cedars.
as there is no filter lane for turning right from Lushington hill into Station road,(which is the only viable diversion round park road).. and only about 3 cars (or one lorry) can queue to do so without blocking ALL the east bound traffic, it causes massive tail-backs.
but a simple change to the timing of the lights,. to stop the west bound traffic & allow the east bound queue to continue & disipate, would solve a lot of the issue.
IWC / IR knew about this closure well in advance, so could easilly have put this in place.. It’s not as if it’s Rocket Science…
You are talking about our “wonderful” council, they couldn’t run a bath let alone come up with a simple solution to a problem, if you could somehow surgically combine the brains of our councillors you would still be short of a half wit.
Absolutely correct.No brain, no idea. Clearly incompetant Council.
That’s what you get when being run by
Numpty’s.
Sadly neither of those organisations could organise a p*** up in a brewery. As you rightly say, a few minutes reprogramming the lights woyld have made a massive difference to the size of the resulting queues up Lushington Hill
Traffic control does not exist on the island.
There were no queues at the cedars traffic lights until island roads “upgraded” them!
Do you think island roads have said to SGN “pull your finger out, and get the work done quicker”. Somehow I doubt it.
What doesn’t overrun on the island.