Road works update for week starting Monday 12 December

A roundup of works underway or soon to start around Orkney, for the week starting 12 December:

Openreach have started work on the A964 (Old Scapa Road). Temporary traffic lights will be in place until the end of next week (16 December) from the property of Varisay to the junction of the A964 (Orphir road) with the B9053 (Scapa Bay Road). Work will then move to between the access to Crantit House to Crantit Park from 16 to 29 December. Both sections of works will be controlled by three way traffic signals – as a result there will be slight delays to all traffic including school transport and public buses (Service 2 Houton and Service 9 Kirkwall Town).

There’s a revised schedule for the road works and road closures on the B9055 Brodgar Road. The work underway on Phase 3 (with closures from Buckan Cottage to Lyking Road) is now expected to take until the end of next week (Friday 16 December) to complete, due to current very low road temperatures affecting some aspects of the work. Signed diversion routes are in place via Harray and Dounby (the A986) or A967 Sandwick Road, and at times via the Lyking Road. These are relatively lengthy diversions so drivers should allow extra time for their journeys. The works will impact on public bus Service 8 (Quoyloo service) - buses will not serve Brodgar Road and will follow the signed diversions. The revised schedule below is indicative and subject to weather and resourcing:

• Phase 1 layby at Standing Stones of Stenness to Ring of Brodgar car park - complete.
• Phase 2 Ring of Brodgar car park to access to Buckan Cottage – complete.
• Phase 3 Buckan to Lyking Road – underway, expected to be completed 16 December.
• Phase 4 Lyking Road to A967 – completed.

The closure currently in place on the path between Pickaquoy Loan and Muddisdale Road (ie behind Glaitness School) is expected to remain in place into next week (week starting 12 December) to enable crews to safely deal with a streetlighting fault in the vicinity.

Work on the retaining wall at the junction of Hammar Road and the A966 (the main Finstown-Tingwall-Evie road) is underway with work expected to take until the end of February 2023 to complete. Traffic delays including delays to Bus Service 7 will be slightly longer as the area covered by traffic lights has been extended to enable the work to be carried safely. Motorists are also reminded the road width is now significantly narrower – please be mindful of these changes and to drive accordingly and observe any speed signs which are there for everyone’s protection.

Work is ongoing on the Harray Road (A986) to fix a collapsed culvert which has been causing flooding between Grimeston Road and Refuge Corner. Steel-plating in place over the road until the crews return to finish the culvert replacement, at which point temporary traffic lights will be reinstated. Drivers are asked to heed any speed signs for the safety of workers exposed to traffic. There will be slight delays for public bus Service 7 (Birsay-Dounby).

Work by Scottish Water is ongoing on Glaitness Road, Kirkwall, with temporary traffic lights in place.

There’s revised dates for the work scheduled to take place on Quoyloo Road between West Bain and Kierfiold Farm - this is now due to take place between 19 and 23 December 2022 under road closure conditions. A signed diversion route will be in place for the duration.

Looking ahead:

Work is planned to take place on the Yesnaby Road on 4 and 6 January 2023, with the road being closed for the duration. Delays to affected properties will be minimised when possible.

The start date for resurfacing works on the Holm Road/Easdale Loan junction have been revised – these are now planned to start on 9 January 2023, for around four days. This will see Easdale Loan being closed to through traffic and temporary traffic lights in place. The No 9 Town service will experience minor delays, and there will be a short diversion for the No 4 Airport bus, but passengers will be able to pick the bus up at both the top or the bottom of Easdale Loan.

The Openreach works on the Yinstay Road, Tankerness, have been rescheduled to commence on 12 January 2023 with completion expected by 21 January 2023. Further information on access during the work will be available