Drivers facing overnight A338 closures as roadworks advance

DRIVERS are facing road layout changes and overnight A338 closures as work advances on improvements to the Spur Road and Blackwater junction.

The closures being operated until 10th March are required to carry out temporary surfacing work and to switch the traffic management layout to the final phase.

A 40mph speed limit enforced using average speed cameras will continue until the work between Ringwood and Christchurch is completed, scheduled for June. The limit will then rise to 50mph with speed cameras a permanent fixture.

Since Monday, the southbound lanes have been closed from 8pm to 6am every night for temporary surfacing works.

Traffic management in the new A338 contraflowThen from Friday until Sunday, both the southbound and northbound lanes will be closed overnight to change the traffic management layout and install a contraflow, which will be operational from Sunday morning as shown above.

A further week of overnight southbound closures will be in place from Monday until Sunday 10th March to complete the temporary surfacing works.

Bournemouth Borough Council’s director of environment, Larry Austin, said: “We’ve now reached the stage where we’re starting works to widen the northbound carriageway to provide an improved off-slip to the Blackwater West junction.

“To enable us to lengthen the slip road, the carriageway needs to be widened in both the verge and central reservation. We’ll also be reinforcing the Blackwater Bridge piers and mirroring the concrete barrier works carried out around the southbound side of the bridge.

“So that we can maintain two lanes of traffic northbound, a contraflow has been installed on the southbound carriageway with a dedicated northbound lane and a single southbound lane.

"To ease traffic merging on the Blackwater on-slip, we can extend the merge lane over the Stour and have a longer lead-in to the lane closure southbound."

He continued: “This arrangement will remain in place until we near the end of the works in June 2019.

“We would encourage drivers to plan ahead, continue to allow extra time for their journeys, especially during peak periods, and play close attention to the signage.”

The road improvements form part of the £45.2m investment in Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership’s Bournemouth International Growth (BIG) Programme, aimed at providing better access into and around Bournemouth Airport, unlocking employment land and stimulating economic growth.