Crickley Hill: Drivers advised to plan for road closures

The A417 Crickely Hill section will be closed overnight midweek for seven weeks

Drivers have been reminded to plan for overnight road closures during work expected to last seven weeks.

National Highways said from Monday, the A417 will be closed at Crickley Hill overnight midweek from 20:00 to 06:00 BST.

During the work, set to last until 1 December, all traffic will be diverted via the A40, A46, A435 and A436.

The road will remain open during the day and access maintained for residents and emergency services.

The closures will allow for widening works which are part of National Highways' £460m 'missing link' scheme near Gloucester.

Two extra lanes are being added to the road and the gradient down Crickley Hill reduced to improve a traffic bottleneck and accident blackspot.

"We acknowledge these closures will have an effect on people's journeys, and we thank people in advance for their patience," said project director Steve Foxley. "We've communicated the forthcoming closures and changes to local communities and businesses. And once that work is completed, we will be moving to the next stage which will see us start the build of the new offline section of the A417."

The road will remain open during the day

The organisation said on an average day this section of the A417 carried about 40,000 vehicles and led to congestion and motorists diverting onto local roads to avoid tailbacks, which caused difficulties for neighbouring communities.