Council advises of road closures and bus service changes during surface dressing

Road surface dressing will bring road closures and bus service changes across Orkney.

With road surface dressing due to start later this month, the Council is advising the public of how they can keep updated on road closures and bus service changes which might affect them.

Roads will be completely closed both ways and diversions in place during surface dressing, which will be taking place at 33 locations across Orkney in a rolling programme running over May, June and July, starting 14 May.

Planned areas of work in the week starting Monday 14 May are:

• Old Finstown Road from Market Stance to the 30mph.
• A986 from Refuge Corner to Bimbister Road.
• A986 between the Dounby 30mph signs.
• Appietown Road from Church Road to the A986.
• Back Road (Dounby) from the A986 to Vetquoy Road.

Sections of roads will be closed for between a few hours and a few days (in short stages) at a time while workers are on site.

There will also be changes to bus services affected by road closures.

Darren Richardson, Head of Infrastructure and Strategic Projects, said:

“This work is vital but it is also very weather dependent.

“While it is possible to give an idea of our aims for the week ahead, we’d ask that people keep themselves informed day-to-day by checking for updates which will be made available on the Council website and social media, and to our local press.

“We’ll be working to complete each area as quickly as possible, and the full road closures will help facilitate this. But people should be aware that roads could be closed as early as 06:00, and as late as 18:00.

“By closing the whole road, we are ensuring the safety of our workers as well as other road users. The safety of the site and our staff is of great importance to us and we would ask that members of the public do not move the road closed signs and treat our staff with respect – they are simply doing their job, which is to improve the condition of Orkney’s roads.

“Due the nature of our rural roads network some diversions are quite lengthy and this will require people to allow more time for their journeys.

“We are working with colleagues in Education particularly in relation to pupils sitting exams who will need to stay abreast of closures and diversions and plan accordingly.

“We’ll be informing households and local businesses affected by closures about a week in advance of each area.

“But we’d urge everyone to make sure they check for diversions that could affect them, or their vulnerable friends, neighbours and family members.”

During road closures, school buses will be able to travel through the works under convoy at peak times – before 09:30 and after 15:00, with the site closed to all traffic between 09:30 and 16:00 (with the exception of emergency vehicles). By extending the work time from 15:00 to 16:00, teams can cover an extra 300 metres of road – or an extra 1.5km across the whole week – and therefore speeding up the whole process.

Further details and updates of road closures and diversions will be available on the Council’s homepage and on Facebook at ‘OIC Updates’ and Twitter @OIC_Roads  throughout the surface dressing programme.

Details of bus service changes and diversions will be available over coming days.