DOVER FASTRACK
Closure of Dover Road commencing Monday January 23rd
STATEMENT
“Unfortunately, when works commenced the gas main was discovered in a different location than expected; records showed it being within the existing carriageway but was in fact located in the verge and thus within the area of road widening. In addition, the main was also fairly shallow, which meant we could not build the additional width of carriageway without diverting it.
The project team engaged with SGN at the time of the original work in an attempt to complete all necessary works at that time. However, SGN didn’t have resources available to carry on with the diversion (they had already diverted the section through the verge where the new bus layby is to go on the school side), hence the reason we suspended the works. We hope to complete the works in less than 8 weeks, but the advertised closure period allows for possible adverse weather and any others issues that come forward when we’re on site.
The new gas main needs to be installed in the existing carriageway but the exact alignment won’t be known until SGN start excavating the carriageway. It will need to be at least 500-750mm away from the existing edge of carriageway, to avoid issues when constructing the widened section of carriageway, which would result further road closure time.
It is unlikely that we will be able to safely reopen the road at the end of each day/weekend due to the uncertainty on the alignment of the new main and the narrowness of this section of Dover Road and the need to safeguard open excavations. Intermittent re-opening would prolong the works because we would have to backfill open excavations to make the road safe to open and then remove temporary backfill material each morning. In addition, the contractors will also have to excavate a reasonable length to ensure there are no obstructions, before they start installing the new main.
A pedestrian route will be always maintained through the working area. In addition, access is being maintained between Dover Road and Old Charlton Road, it will not be actively advertised but this will at least give residents a route in/out of town without going along the A258 diversion.”