Travel disruption as A417 and A419 close overnight for 12 weeks

THE A417 and A419 will close overnight for 12-weeks, causing travel disruption.

Highway England’s major maintenance project will be split into two six-week periods and will see full carriageway closures on parts of the Cotswold artery, which links the M4 to the M5, from 8pm to 6am.

The first set of closures, starting on May 3, will involve highway maintenance work such as grass cutting, drainage, channel sweeping and road markings and will start at M4 junction 15 to Commonhead and progress section by section to M5 junction 11a.

The second part will start after the August Bank Holiday and will concentrate on resurfacing and patch work – which bosses hope to have completed by the end of October.

There will be a two-month break between the roadwork periods, from mid-June to the end of August, which avoids the Royal International Air Tattoo. There will be no closures in place on weekends or on Bank Holidays.

The news brought dismay to many in the Cotswolds worried about long detours and minor roads becoming clogged.

Ben Amor, publicity officer for Cirencester Car Club, said: “I know the problems only too well - I commute to Cheltenham from Tetbury every day and avoid that road like the plague.

He added that problems were made worse by "not only amount of traffic but the number of HGVs that use the route to access the motorway and other key routes from deliveries made in Cirencester".

Cirencester resident Jemma Hicks said: “I have come home from London lots of times at night and the road always has a steady stream of traffic on it. I just feel to close a whole road for 12 weeks is wrong. I know work has to be done but one lane at a time is fine.”

Trev McMullan drives from Cirencester to Cheltenham for night shifts.

"It could be tricky. It will depend on what time they close and reopen the road. I guess though there is always the A435 but that is not a reliably speedy artery as it is single lane,” he said.

A spokesman for Highways England said: “Overnight closures will be in place to ensure the safety of the travelling public and the workforce and each closure is being kept to a minimum of between two and four nights.

“The reason for the two blocks of closures is to reduce the amount of traffic management being installed during the day and to allow for multiple works to be undertaken at the same time.

“Agreed diversion routes will be in place during the various closures, together with advanced signage on the network detailing times and dates.”

The diversion routes are as follows: for overnight closure from M4 junction 15 to Commonhead, traffic will be diverted via M4 junction 16; from Commonhead to the White Hart roundabout via the A4259 and A4312; from Blunsdon Turnpike to Cricklade via the B4553; Cricklade to Spine Road via the B4696; Spine Road to Burford Road roundabout (Cirencester) via the B4696, A419 and A429; Burford Road roundabout to Air Balloon roundabout via the A435, A429, A40 and A436; Air Balloon roundabout to M5 via the A436, A435 and A46.