Motorists travelling in and out of Ryde are to face disruption for at least the next 5 months as Southern Water carry out an extensive water mains replacement programme on Ashey Road.
From Monday (6th November) the busy road leading to and from The Downs will be closed from East Ashey Lane to Smallbrook Lane, forcing traffic through Brading or Havenstreet.
Over the winter months the works will progress towards Swanmore, which will then see the closure of the road from Smallbrook Lane to Swanmore Road. Early next year the mains replacement will then continue along West Street to the crossroads junction with Argyll Street/Green Street.
Road closures are initially set to continue in the area until Friday 23rd March 2018, but the scheme isn’t expected to be fully complete until next Summer – although Southern Water say that due to the nature of the work, ‘it could change’.
The company’s water main replacement work at nearby Brading was scheduled to last just 6 weeks but resulted in nigh-on 6 months of traffic chaos.
The decision to replace pipes in the Ryde area comes following last year’s double burst, which left thousands of homes and businesses without water for up to 9 hours. The same section of pipe burst in 2013 and several other incidents occurred in the 18 months beforehand. There was a smaller burst back in February of this year, again on Ashey Road.
The works being carried out will involve digging up the recently resurfaced road, leading to concerns over the quality of reinstatement. Recent survey work and trial holes has resulted in ‘speed bumps’ on Ashey Road and works in Cowes left motorists with a sub-standard road resurface for months.
Island Echo has approached Island Roads for a comment on the standard of reinstatement, but a response is yet to be received.
