Overnight closures for major Stafford road

The rail bridge will be fully closed while the work takes place

Overnight closures are planned for a main road in Staffordshire as part of a major improvement scheme.

The A34 Queensville rail bridge in Stafford will be fully closed from 20:00-06:00 BST between 21-23 July.

Staffordshire County Council said diversions would be in place via the A449, with the route chosen to reduce the impact on businesses and emergency services.

The section of road is currently under one-way traffic control, heading out of town, and will be until mid-October from Riverway to the Queensville roundabout.

The authority said the maintenance and resurfacing was part of a scheme that included improvements to two roundabout junctions, road and footway reconstruction, new pedestrian crossings and cycleways as well as strengthening of two bridges.

Resurfacing of Radford river bridge took place earlier this month and has now been completed.

Assistant director for highways James Bailey said the authority was now in the final phase of the scheme from Queensville to Riverway.

"We understand these closures and traffic order cause significant disruption, but this allows the scheme to be completed as soon as possible," he said.

He added the council had been providing regular updates and would continue to do so.

The road surface was expected to last for between 20-30 years, the authority added.