Ludlow may have just beaten its personal best. Seventeen whole days without roadworks on Ludlow’s main roads! It could have gone on longer if Seven Trent Water had not started digging holes in Corve Street yesterday. And there is more to come. Temeside will be closed again from next Monday (now revised to a week on Monday). There will be lights on Station Drive once the Corve Street work finishes. Meanwhile, the traffic lights on Parys Road will continue until 29 November.
Roadworks are such a common occurence in Ludlow, I fear we will have allow for them in new bus timetables due to be issued later in the year. We have so many roadworks because of the need to replace decaying gas, electricity and water infrastructure, some of which is a century old. The need to constantly patch up our broken roads adds to the misery. And if motorists this they are having a tough time, they should try walking on some of Ludlow’s pavements and footpaths.
The headline news is the reintroduction of the Temeside closure from next Monday, 30 September (revised date). Initially, gas infrastructure operator Cadent will excavate trial holes to ensure the proposed route of a gas pipe diversion doesn’t compromise other services. If the findings are positive, the gas pipe will be diverted. This work will take a total of three weeks. If the trial holes uncover problems, the road will be reopened while a new route is designed. Once gas works are completed, STW will complete their work on sewer enlargement, a project expected to last four weeks. The aim is to reopen Temeside by 8 November. But, as we have seen with the roadworks on Station Drive, which lasted more than a year against a planned nine months, roadworks can overrun. The intention is to ensure that that Temeside is clear of roadworks well before the festive season begins with the Winter Festival on 25 November.
Work to upgrade the Puffin Crossing on Station Drive was due to begin tomorrow, 18 September for ten days. This has been delayed until after the Corve Street work by STW is finished. We don’t have a new date for this starting. The work will last for ten days.
National Grid work on Parys Road will continue until 29 November with traffic lights in operation.
National Grid will be working on Mill Street north of Bell Lane from 28 October to 1 November though this is not expected to affect traffic flow.