Road closure at a major city junction announced for SGN gasworks as project gets ahead of schedule

From 11pm on Sunday, February 16 to 5am on Saturday, February 22, the right turn lane from the southbound London Road into Northern Parade will be closed, meaning drivers wishing to access Northern Parade, the Shell garage or Hilsea Lido from the north of the city will need to loop round the Coach and Horses pub and come back again.

The news comes ahead of a second set of ‘extremely disruptive’ lane closures around the Portsbridge Roundabout and London Road this weekend to give SGN workers additional space to carry out their works to replace the aging gas network in the area.

As previously reported by The News, there have been lane closures in the area for well over a year while the work has been taken place. In an effort to speed up the timescale for the works, one lane has been closed either side of the carriageway on London Road although this and the resulting land closure on the Portsbridge Roundabout has created rushhour tailbacks into Cosham and Highbury.

However last weekend this was increased to two lanes on the southbound carriageway creating further traffic tailbacks, as well as on the westbound A27 with the sliproad from the A27 into Hilsea closed.

SGN has said that it hopes the newly-announced closure of the southbound London Road/Northern Parade junction will minimise disruption by being carrying during the half term week.

Bradley Barlow, spokesperson for SGN, said: “We need to work across the right turn lane on London Road into Northern Parade. For everyone’s safety, a temporary lane closure is required. This is to allow the team to carry out a road crossing to connect our newly laid gas main to the existing network, which was replaced on a previous project.

“This temporary closure means vehicles will not be able to turn right into Northern Parade, or head northbound back to the roundabout. Traffic will need to continue southbound and divert around the Coach & Horses gyratory to head to Northern Parade or northbound to the A3.

“We appreciate this closure may be disruptive for road users. The team will be working as quickly and as safely as possible to complete the work required across this challenging location.”

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This weekend’s closures from Friday evening to Monday morning will see:

• Hilsea dedicated slip lane from the A27/M27 will be closed
• London Road southbound will be down to a single lane
• Portsbridge roundabout lane closures will be in place, with a single lane remaining open
• Bus stops will be temporarily closed within lane closures – we advise bus passengers to contact their service providers for the latest update on changes to bus stop locations and timetables. This will include the Donaldson Road bus stop between McDonald's and Portsbridge Roundabout

Mr Barlow confirmed that the works are progressing well, with last weekend’s identical lane closure helping the gas distribution company to get ahead of schedule.

He said: “Phase one of the medium pressure gas main replacement on London Road is progressing well. Our temporary weekend lane closures are giving the engineering team enough road space to safely increase how much work they can carry out. They are now further ahead than our original plan.

“We are replacing all the metallic Victorian gas mains on London Road. Replacing these gas mains is essential to ensure we can continue to provide residents with a safe and efficient gas supply and avoid further disruptive emergency repairs in the future.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your continued patience and support.”

News of the half term road closure also coincides with the disruption to the rail network in the city over the same period while Network Rail carries out upgrades on the line.

For more information on the SGN project visit www.sgn.co.uk/our-gas-works/major-planned-projects/portsmouth-london-road.