Eastern Road: Next closure of Portsmouth road expected to be in March with London Road gas work 'paused'

The next stage of the works, involving the closure on the southbound side of the busy road, is expected to take place mid-March after a date was agreed when other road and lane closures elsewhere in the city are temporarily put on hold.

Portsmouth City Council has been liaising with both Southern Water and SGN to ensure works do not take place at the same time, with SGN carrying out works in London Road, Hilsea, to upgrade the gas network.

Earlier this year SGN delayed its works while Southern Water carried out the first phase of its major repairs to the pipe plagued by leaks. This is because it required the water company to close the southbound carriageway of the road for more than a week. As a result the city was hit with a traffic nightmare and gridlock with one of the three routes into the city closed, but this would have been made worse if the subsequent lane closures in Hilsea has taken place at the same time.

Now SGN, which closed lanes on both sides of London Road earlier this week, has confirmed that it how has an agreed timetable of when it will pause its work which will allow Southern Water to carry out the second phase of its £1million repair scheme on the 500 metre long sewage pipe.

A SGN spokesperson said: "We’ve been making great progress in London Road in Portsmouth to upgrade our gas network. Working in collaboration with Southern Water and Portsmouth City Council, we recently agreed to pause our work to minimise traffic disruption during the first stage of water pipe repairs.

"To ensure Southern Water’s next phase of water pipe repairs can continue with minimal impact to local traffic, we’ve agreed to pause our work again and remove all temporary traffic management from our site from Saturday 16 March. We will then return to London Road once Southern Water have completed their work in Eastern Road."

Southern Water has already carried out works on 200 metres of the pipe in the first phase, and now has to finish the repair work on the remaining 300 metres. This involves feeding lining material through the stretch of pipe underground. It is then heated and then the pipe is sealed. 

Southern Water has yet to confirm the date of its works, however it is expected to immediately follow the pausing of the gasworks in Hilsea so it is completed ahead of Pompey's next home game taking place at Fratton Park on March 23.

In a previous statement it said: "We are working closely with the Highways Authority, Portsmouth City Council, and their partner that manages the network, Colas, to minimise the impact on road users wherever possible."