Roadworks on Verwood Road at Three Legged Cross have been extended again till June 7th 2024.
The work by SGN, which started last November, was expected to finish at the end of April but were extended till May 10th.
However, the temporary traffic lights near Joys Road on the B3072, which are causing long delays during the morning and afternoon rush hours, will remain in place for another month.
Dorset Highways shared an update with Verwood Town Council on Facebook, which, in short, says another problem has emerged near the original issue, which needs to be fixed.
The full message reads as follows:
“I wanted to bring you up-to-date on the situation on Verwood Road, Three Legged Cross where we’ve been accommodating SGN near Joys Road for several months.
The time it is taking for this work to reach a satisfactory conclusion has been bought to the attention of SGN’s management team this week as the apparent lack of progress and repeated extensions has attracted criticism.
SGN first notified us of a gas leak here on 24 November last year and since then it is my understanding that temporary signals have been in operation which have generated delays and disruption at peak times. In the last week or so a further leak has developed on the same main a little further along Verwood Road.
After corresponding with SGN in the last couple of days we maintain that we want the road space returned to public use without delay and they need to give us more certainty than we’ve seen so far. They have come to us conceding that these works could have been handled differently and with proposals to fully replace the section of main which is subject to both leaks – in the medium term this will improve the reliability of this particular section of aging main, but in the shorter term will mean continued disruption for a while longer.
The full repair of the section will take a further four weeks to complete, the continued disruption partly offset though by a greater certainty that the main will be fully renewed with reduced risk of future escapes. The agreed and stipulated end date for these works is now set at 7 June – the site must be returned back to public use by this date or they will risk incurring daily penalty charges.
We’re told that dedicated teams have been assigned to this job and we will carry out regular inspections to ensure they are engaging in activities on site and making the progress in the timescales we have agreed – extra working at weekends will be permitted (regulations allowing) to complete the work sooner than four weeks if possible.
SGN have also been asked to issue communications explaining the approach to the work, the rationale and the timescales.
Longer term, we know that the whole, aging main along Verwood Road is subject to repeat escapes and accounts for a fair proportion of unplanned activities in this area – SGN are aware as well and it is their aspiration to fully replace the main under controlled planning at some point in the future.
As a result of learnings from this particular job, we have implemented new team procedures and communications channels with SGN to ensure we identify and focus on works regularly and at a much earlier stage, to minimise the chances of such prolonged disruption happening again.”