£3 million scheme to provide safer and smoother road surface for the southbound A1 at Tuxford, Nottinghamshire
A major £3 million scheme to reconstruct and resurface over four and a half miles of the southbound carriageway of the A1 between Tuxford and Markham Moor, Nottinghamshire, will begin on Monday, 17 November.
The scheme is due to take place in three stages and the overall completion date is Friday, 13 March 2009.
Stage One
The first stage of work will be the construction of two new crossover points in the central reservation and the upgrading of an existing crossover point to allow for a contraflow to be put in place for the main works in the New Year. This work will start on Monday 17 November and is due to be complete by Monday 22 December.
There will be a closure on lane two of both the northbound and southbound carriageways of the A1 overnight for this work to take place. These will take place between 8pm and 6am six nights a week, with no closures on a Friday night. The crossover points will be removed when the scheme is fully completed.
Stage Two
Work will be suspended over the Christmas break, but will begin again on the night of Monday 5 January with the first phase of the contraflow works to allow reconstruction and resurfacing work. From this date motorists will not be able to use the A1 southbound carriageway from the A1 Tuxford entry slip road. A contraflow system will be put in place on the northbound carriageway to allow motorists to continue their southbound journeys.
The contraflow will start to the south of the Tuxford junction to Sutton-on-Trent, a distance of 3.5miles, and will be in place 24 hours a day. Traffic will be able to enter and exit the A1 at Tuxford, although wide loads will be diverted prior to the scheme at Apleyhead when travelling south and using the A614, A616 and A46 to Newark and the reverse when travelling north.
Stage Three
The second phase of the works involves a contraflow between Markham Moor and the A1 Tuxford junction where motorists will be diverted from the southbound carriageway using cones and signs to continue south on the northbound carriageway – a distance of 3.7miles. This stage is due to begin on Monday 30 January and is expected to finish in mid-March.
Traffic will not be able to enter or exit the A1 at Tuxford and will be diverted via the A57 and A6075 to Markham Moor. Wide loads will be diverted via Apleyhead and Newark. There will be a speed limit of 50mph within the works area for the safety of motorists and workforce.
Queuing traffic is expected as a result of the contraflow system, especially on Friday afternoons.
Highways Agency project manager Kam Khokhar said:
“We are investing in replacing the worn out carriageway on the A1 southbound to provide a quieter and smoother drive for motorists, to extend the life of the road and enable people to make their journeys safely and reliably. This work will reduce the need for further emergency repairs.
“Works have been taking place to replace the roundabout at the Markham Moor junction with a new grade separated junction. As we try to limit the impact of roadworks on motorists as much as we can, we decided to wait until those works were nearly complete before starting this scheme.
“We ask motorists to be patient and to plan their journeys while the work is taking place as there will be some delay at peak times.”
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