Weymouth Olympic roadworks shut road

Roundabouts will be replaced as part of a £9m scheme to ease congestion

Drivers are being warned that a Dorset main road will be closed to allow essential drainage works for an £87m relief road ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Littlemoor Road will be shut between 30 July and 2 August so a 3m (9.84ft) trench can be dug.

Dorset County Council said it would stay open to pedestrians and cyclists.

The Weymouth Relief Road will improve traffic links between Dorchester and Weymouth, which are hosting the Olympic sailing events with Portland.

The relief road is scheduled to open in 2011 but may be ready by late 2010.

Matthew Piles, Weymouth Relief Road project manager, said: "Closing Littlemoor Road to through traffic for this short period of time will be less disruptive than if we completed this drainage work under temporary traffic signals, as they would need to be in place for at least a week.

"The pipe being laid has to go under a fragile water-main and it would be at greater risk of rupturing if vehicles were allowed to drive over it during the work."