London Road Hilsea gas works: Lane closure in place as Portsmouth awaits news of Eastern Road closure

SGN, which is carrying out the major upgrade of the main underneath London Road in Hilsea near the Coach and Horses, have found the existing gas main is located further into the centre of the southbound lane of the road than expected. This meant that since Thursday last week the bus lane of the northbound side has been used for general traffic to allow the second northbound lane to be used for southbound traffic.

Northbound lane one in the centre has also been coned off to safely separate the two directions of traffic, and bus stops northbound on London Road are closed from outside The Coach and Horses pub and the News Centre site.

A spokesperson for SGN said: "Once we’ve completed this phase of work and reinstated the southbound lane, we will go back to having one lane southbound closed and northbound as normal. Bus stops will also reopen. We’re sorry for any inconvenience our work may cause and thank you for your patience."

Many in the city are keeping an eager eye on the progress of the works in Hilsea as once they are complete a date for the second phase of the Eastern Road repair work is expected to be confirmed. this is after the city council worked with both SGN and Southern water to ensure both repairs were not carried out at the same time - further cripping the road network.

The re-lining work of a 500-metre-long sewer which runs along the Eastern Road is part of a £1m 'solution' after a string of disruptive bursts which has lead to traffic chaos as Southern Water worked to carry out repairs. The first phase of the repair work is now complete but a second closure is needed to complete the job.

Southern Water says this approach 'should stop recurring issues with the underground pipe, which have led to temporary road closures and traffic lights in the past few months'.