There’s been welcome relief for long-suffering Ruddington drivers and bus passengers this week after the imposition of temporary traffic lights at a notorious traffic bottleneck was postponed.
As RUDDINGTON.info previously reported, following a number of gas leaks in recent years, Cadent Gas needs to carry out substantial maintenance on Wilford Road to replace the troublesome old iron gas main under ‘Dutton’s Hill’ (pictured top) with a “more durable” plastic pipe. This was due to happen between 16th October and 13th November 2023, therefore would have been going on at the same time as junction layout improvements at the Kirk Lane/Loughborough Road/Flawforth Lane crossroads.* With their 4-way temporary signals, these are already causing major peak-time hold-ups for motorists and bus services, and are set to continue until Friday 19th January 2024.
Explaining the postponement, a Via East Midlands spokesperson told us: “The gas mains replacement, requiring the use of temporary signals, has not yet been granted to go ahead, due to the ongoing pressures in Ruddington and the complex issues relating to traffic management. I have been in discussions with Cadent about the best way to carry out the essential works whilst minimising the impact to road users. However, whilst no satisfactory solution has been found, I have asked them to delay that project until we find an acceptable solution.”
Nevertheless, as can be seen above, there is still some gas work there, but not in the road: “The emergency works that began on Monday, 16th October, are to repair a gas leak and are currently due to continue until 20th October” the Via East Midlands spokesperson explains. “The nature of gas escapes means that the source of the leak can be difficult to locate so the duration of the works is difficult to predict. Fortunately, the works are currently in the footway and not presenting a significant source of delays due to limited use of traffic management in the carriageway. It is possible that until the gas main is replaced such leaks may occur more frequently than might ideally be expected.”
There’s plenty of other Ruddington highway work still scheduled which may have also prompted Via’s Dutton’s Hill postponement decision…
This Friday & Saturday (20th & 21st October) Old Loughborough Road will be closed during the day from its junction with Landmere Lane to its junction with A60 Loughborough Road for pothole repairs.** Whilst access will be maintained for residents and work vehicles whenever possible, other drivers are asked to use the diversionary route via A60 Loughborough Road, the A52, and Landmere Lane – and vice versa – as shown below.
Following this repair work, in the same area, overnight lane closures with two-way signals will be in use from Tuesday 24th October until Saturday 4th November 2023 along the A52 from the A60 Nottingham Knight Roundabout and A606 Wheatcroft Roundabout for National Highways survey works.*** This is in preparation for the major roundabout enlargement work due to take place there in autumn 2024.****
The FULL list of scheduled Ruddington roadworks of which we are aware currently is below:-
*Monday 14th August 2023 until Sunday 31st March 2024 – 24-hour multi-way temporary traffic lights at the Kirk Lane/Loughborough Road/Flawforth Lane crossroads – for junction renovation works including diversions of utility services, resulting from s278 agreement with developers – various contractors including Severn Trent Water, Cadent Gas, National Grid, Virgin Media & BT Openreach.
**From 08:00 hours on Friday 20th October 2023 until 15:30 hours on Saturday 21st October 2023 – closure of Old Loughborough Road from its junction with Landmere Lane to its junction with A60 Loughborough Road – pothole repairs by Via East Midlands.
Friday 20th October to Monday 23rd October 2023 – traffic control (priority working) for road repairs on B680 Wilford Road outside Ruddington Day Nursery – by Nottinghamshire County Council.
Monday 23rd October to Friday 3rd November 2023 – stop/go boards on Churchill Drive – electricity work by National Grid.
***Tuesday 24th October at 20:00 to Saturday 4th November 2023 at 06:00 – lane closures and 2-way signals along the A52 from the A60 Nottingham Knight Roundabout to A606 Wheatcroft Roundabout for overnight survey works – National Highways.****
Monday 13th November to Thursday 16th November 2023 – Closure of Parkyns Street to install a new service connection – Cadent Gas.
****Looking further into next year, National Highways has announced the long planned major roadworks to enlarge both the Nottingham Knight Island and Wheatcroft Island on the A52 should begin in September 2024. Find more details >>HERE<<.
Residents and visitors should anticipate delays and diversions for motorists, and also for passengers using Kinchbus 9, Nottingham City Transport’s Navy 3 & Green 10/10C/10X buses and the NottsBus Connect Service 863 during these roadworks.
RUDDINGTON.info will bring you details of further village roadworks as we receive them.
{PLEASE NOTE: The information above is subject to potential change and updates due to the weather and other operational reasons. We will provide timely revisions, here on our website, whenever we can. LAST UPDATE: Thursday 19th October 2023.}
