Major roadworks at the M27 junction leading into Park Gate and Whiteley will take three months longer than originally planned – and are now unlikely to finish before the end of the year.
The M27 roadworks at junction nine
The Highways Agency has been carrying out repair work to the bridges at junction nine of the motorway – the junction for Fareham West and Whiteley – but the transport lead for Hampshire County Council said they “dilly-dallied” in getting started on the work and now the finish date has been pushed back. And that means the trial on keeping open the Whiteley bus gate at Yew Tree Drive has also had to be put back to next year.
Despite the Highways Agency starting on the M27 in March, putting out traffic cones and erecting yellow average speed cameras, and assuring motorists the works would be completed by the end of the summer it has now come to light that the work will take much longer than that.
Hampshire County Council Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, Cllr Sean Woodward, said: “Yes we’ve been told the work will now not finish until December. We were only told last week.
“They started late so I guess it will finish late. It should have started in March but didn’t start for three months.
“They only gave two weeks notice of starting these works in the first place and then they didn’t start. They dilly-dallied and started three months late. It’s six months of works, but didn’t start in March like it should have done.”
Andrew Broughton, spokesman for the Highways Agency, confirmed more work was due to take place on the bridges and the project team was in the process of finalising plans to avoid stopping the job in September and restarting it again at a later date. The Highways Agency is aiming to finish before Christmas.
“We’ve only just found out in the last week or two about the delays, which is why the county council has only just found out about the delays,” he said.
“There was extra work to the concrete on the bridge that needed doing. It will delay the scheme by three months but it saves going back again later and being disruptive. Although we planned the work, every now and again there will be more work that needs doing. It was something that we found when we startd the work.”
He said The Highways Agency began preparatory work in resurfacing the M27 on February 18, then the narrowing of the lanes took place on April 2, when it was originally planned. He said there was a delay of around two weeks and not threee months.
“I’m not sure where the three months came from,” Mr Broughton added. “It could well be that maybe he was involved in the very early decisions that I was not aware of. Dates will change. We had not confirmed the dates.
“The project team is looking at what they can do and looking at working hours. It’s still very much being planned to hit a December target. It depends how quickly the work goes.”
The Yellow Vulture speed cameras on the M27
Cllr Woodward said the delay would affect plans for the trial of the bus gate opening in Yew Tree Drive, Whiteley. It was hoped the trial could take place from September once the motorway works were complete, as well as the work to install a Toucan crossing at Park Gate.He said the trial could not take place while there were such significant roadworks on the M27 at junction nine because the results could be skewed by traffic avoiding the motorway.
The county council has now been forced to apply to Fareham Borough Council for a year-long opening of the Yew Tree Drive bus gate and the three-month traffic survey is now likely to begin in January 2014 to measure the traffic speed, volumes and size of the vehicles travelling through the bus gate.
The request for a year-long permission is to allow for contingency should the Highways Agency roadworks on the M27 over-run again beyond the end of the year.
A number of mitigation works need to be complete along Yew Tree Drive, Botley Road and Swanwick Lane before the trial can take place. Cllr Woodward said they should be completed by the end of the year.
Fareham council’s planning committee will discuss the trial and make a decision on the plans in August.