Road closure at a major Hilsea junction this week for SGN gasworks

The right turn lane from the southbound London Road into Northern Parade will be closed until 5am on Saturday, February 22, 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.

It comes after a second set of ‘extremely disruptive’ lane closures around the Portsbridge Roundabout and London Road at the 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 created rushhour tailbacks into Cosham and Highbury. The roundabout lane closures have now been removed.

However this month 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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Mr Barlow confirmed that the works are progressing well. He said: “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.

Other SGN gasworks taking place this week will be in St Mary's Road, with a temporarily closure of the eastbound lane between the junctions with Fratton Road and Shakespeare Road until Friday (February 21).

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