Member Article

Essential New Wear Crossing works to cause disruption and delays

Advance works will start on the A1231 Wessington Way next week to help pave the way for the New Wear Crossing project.

From Monday 12 October, a 250 metre stretch of the westbound carriageway (opposite Sainsbury’s), heading towards the A19, will be reduced to one lane until the end of the year to allow key utility diversions to take place.

The team behind the New Wear Crossing Project in Sunderland has also announced details of major roadworks planned throughout 2016.

The planned 2016 works, which are essential to the progress of the bridge project, are likely to cause delays and disruption to motorists travelling along key routes near the River Wear.

Councillor Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “This work is absolutely essential in order to build the New Wear Crossing, which will be at the heart of Sunderland’s new road network connecting the A19 to the city centre and the Port of Sunderland.

“Understandably, we expect there will be disruption and delays, so anyone travelling along or around the A1231 Wessington Way or around European Way in Pallion during 2016 should allow extra time for their journey or seek alternative routes.”

The new bridge will cross the River Wear between Wessington Way in Castletown and European Way in Pallion.

It is the first bridge to be built over the Wear in the city for more than 40 years and is part of the wider strategic transport plan to link the Port of Sunderland and city centre to the strategic highway network (A19/ A1), attract new jobs and investment to Sunderland and help to regenerate the area.

Stephen McCaffrey, is the Project Director with FVB JV, the partnership set up by Farrans Construction and Victor Buyck Steel Construction to deliver the project.

He said: “We’ve worked closely with the council to ensure that we can keep at least one lane open in each direction along the A1231 Wessington Way throughout the work, but we all recognise that this essential work is going to cause some delays and we’ll be working hard over the coming weeks and months to give people as much advance warning as possible.”

David Abdy, Project Director of the New Wear Crossing Project for Sunderland City Council, said: “The advance works that start next week will only affect the westbound carriageway of the A1231 Wessington Way, but they will cause some disruption and we’d like to ask drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to travel safely, respect the lower speed limits and allow a bit of extra time for their journeys.”

From January 2016 there will be roadworks, lane restrictions and reduced speed limits in place along several routes in the area, namely:

• A1231 Wessington Way – down to one lane in both directions for around 12 months
• The short section of Timber Beach Road that links the A1231 Wessington Way with the main road through Sunderland Enterprise Park will close permanently from January 2016
• The roundabout connecting European Way and Pallion New Road will see extensive upgrading works carried out.

There will also be smaller elements of work taking place for shorter periods on roads linked to the scheme to the north and south of the river.

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