Good news for Peterborough motorists as roadwork schemes set to end shortly

Traffic in the city has almost been gridlocked in recent weeks as a number of roadworks schemes have brought misery to drivers across Peterborough.

But two of those schemes are now set to end or be relaxes, meaning traffic will start to flow a little easier.

The council have come under fire from drivers for allowing so many different schemes to take place at the same time - including projects taking place on Town Bridge, on the A1139, on the A47 and on Lincoln Road.

Charlotte Palmer, Head of Service for Environment, Highways and Transport, said: “It is a very difficult situation, and is a very hard balancing act to get right. We have to balance the impact of the works with the safety of the network and making sure the network can cope with the growth of the city.

“We are conscious there are issues out there at the moment, but it will ease up next week.

“The daytime lane closures on the A1139 will come to an end next week - there will still be night time lane closures in place. We think that will make a huge difference.

“Then, either next week or the week after, the Town Bridge works will finish.

“Initially, we had not scheduled two key elements of teh A1139 scheme to take place at the same time. But we had issues with the supply chain and our contractors.”

While there is good news in the short term, the A47 works - which are being run by National Highways, rather than the council - are set to bring full weekend closures of the A47 in the city in the new year, while safety barrier works are set to continue on the parkway system for some time to come.

Ms Palmer said: “The A47 scheme will continue for some time, as will the works on the Paston Parkway.

“Works will never ‘be done’ - there will always be something that needs to be done. At the moment we are working on the safety barriers on the parkways. The Parkway system has been around since the Peterborough Development Corporation days, and it is all aging at the same rate. The works will have to continue over the next couple of years.”

Yesterday it was confirmed a new scheme would be starting in the new year, as the Combined Authority approved the forecast construction cost of £8.014 million for improvement works on the A1260 Nene Parkway Junction 15

Ms Palmer said: “Junction 15 is the most significant scheme we have - it is great news that we are getting that level of investment, and we will try and minimise disruption as much as possible.

“But it will have some impact.”

“We take the parkways system for granted because when it works, it works so well.

“But the work we are doing needs to be done.”

Finally, Ms Palmer urged drivers to use both lanes when queueing at roadworks, rather than just queue in one lane, to help traffic flow.