Drivers face up to 50 mile diversion during roadworks

A series of night-time closures on the A16 Springfield Roundabout project are scheduled for later this month

A major roundabout improvement project will include a series of night-time closures that feature diversion routes between 20 and 50 miles (32km - 80km) long.

Ongoing works to improve the A16 Springfield Roundabout in Spalding, Lincolnshire, will require road closures on weekdays from 20:00 to 06:00 BST.

According to Lincolnshire County Council, the work will start on 16 September and last for up to four weeks, weather permitting.

Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said the project was now at the stage where they are “ready to start laying final road surfacing at the improved roundabout and its junctions”.

The closures will be phased with a section at a time and temporary traffic lights and diversions will be in place.

The phased closures and diversions are as follows:

• Northern half of roundabout and A16 North – diversions via A16, A17, A151, and vice versa

• Southern half of roundabout and A16 South – diversions via A151, A15, A1175, A16, and vice versa

• A151 West – diversions via A16, A17, A151, and vice versa

• A151 East – diversions via A151, A15, A1175, A16, and vice versa

'Long diversions'

Mr 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.”

The project is being funded by a portion of the £20m in funding awarded to the county council from the 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.

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