Diversions of up to 50 miles to be in place as four weeks of overnight closures planned for A16 roundabout at Spalding
Four weeks of night-time road closures - with diversions of up to 50 miles - will be in place as part of the ongoing improvement works taking place on a busy roundabout.
The A16 in Spalding at Springfield Roundabout is currently undergoing a year-long widening project, funded by Government Levelling Up cash.
Coun Richard Davies, Lincolnshire County Council’s executive member for highways, said: “We’re now ready to start laying final road surfacing at the improved roundabout and its junctions – but, to safely carry out this work, we need to close off the sections of roundabout where we’ll be working.”
Closures will begin on Monday, September 16 for up to four weeks, weekday evenings only (subject to weather).
Phased closures will planned be on the A16/A151 and A16 north on the northern half of roundabout from September 16 to 23 plus October 1 and 2, the southern half of roundabout and A16 south from September 24 to 25 and October 3 and 4, the A151 west on September 26 and October 7 and the A151 east on September 27 and 30 and October 8 and 9.
Night-time road closures will be from 8pm to 6am and temporary traffic lights as needed in conjunction with the night-time closures.
Diversion routes will on the northern half of roundabout and A16 North – via A16 /A17 / A151, and vice versa, the southern half of roundabout and A16 South – via A151 / A15 / A1175 / A16, and vice versa, the A151 West – via A16 / A17 / A151, and vice versa and A151 East – via A151 / A15 / A1175 / A16, and vice versa.
Coun Davies added: “We’ll be working as efficiently as possible to ensure the closures aren’t in place any longer than they need to be and we’ve scheduled them for nights to help keep disruption down.
“Unfortunately, the diversion routes for these night closures are quite long – between 20 and 50 miles.
“This is because we can only substitute like-for-like roads when planning diversion routes and there are no other roads suitable for HGVs.
“Diverting them to B or C roads would mean having these large vehicles passing through local villages late at night, which wouldn’t be ideal.
“We’ve looked into alternative ways of working but, because we’ll be laying final surfacing around the roundabout and all of its tie-ins to the A16 and A151, as well as completing splitter islands and installing signage on the traffic islands.
“Because we need to ensure safe working space for our contractor, night-time road closures are the only way to carry this work out.
“As a result, we encourage anyone planning to pass through this junction overnight to leave additional time until we’re finished by mid-October.”
The project is being funded by a portion of the £20m in funding awarded to the county council from Central Government in October 2021.
The remaining funding is being used across four other projects, including improvements to Spalding’s A16/B1180 Pinchbeck Roundabout, the A16 Marsh Lane Roundabout, and footway/cycleway improvements in Boston and Spalding.
