Eastern Road Portsmouth: Fears partial closures will mean some pupils will arrive late for exams

Traffic gridlock has brought much of the north of the city to a halt as a result of several closures of the route, and although the latest work involves only closing one southbound lane instead of both of them it is feared that ongoing issues will spill over into exam season.

As previously reported by The News, Southern Water is in the process of carrying out repair work to its leaking sewage along the main route for around four weeks with the utility firm re-lining 600 metres of the sewer to the south of the bridge.

The works will be suspended to avoid causing disruption to Portsmouth’s D-Day commemoration event on June 5 with the council’s Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Steve Pitt asking fellow councillor to “all pray that the next bit (of sewer) is all okay” at the annual council meeting on Tuesday, May 14.

But Conservative group leader Cllr Simon Bosher expressed fears that the ongoing disruption will continue. He said: “I would like to share the leader’s optimism but I suspect in 2025 it will be Velder Avenue and 2026 it will be Henderson Road as we move forward the way they are going.”

Cllr Bosher said concerns had been raised in relation to school exams, particularly in the north of the city.

“We are in GCSE season and certainly coming down this morning as I did about that sort of time Eastern Road was gridlocked, M275 was gridlocked,” Cllr Bosher said. “I just want to understand what communication has been put in place for the schools to address the fact that quite clearly if a pupil turns up late for an exam they can’t sit it.”

Cllr Pitt said the local authority’s education team had included a note about the Eastern Road works in last week’s weekly bulletin, which is sent to all schools.

“They specifically said to remind anyone who was doing any exams that they needed to leave significant additional time in order to be able to reach their destination in a timely manner,” Cllr Pitt said. “They didn’t leave it at that. They actually put another note out yesterday as well so the council has worked with the transport department to get a clear idea of what’s going on.”

Cllr Bosher also asked if the overhanging shrubbery on the pavement which is not closed could be cut back so it was safe.

A Southern Water spokesperson said the third phase of the £900,000 improvement project had been brought forward to include fixing the burst sewer in Eastern Road as quickly as possible. The partial closure of the road and cycle and walking path was required for safety reasons, the spokesperson said.

Highways contractor Colas has cut back the hedge to make more room on the footpath.