Road works update - week starting 5 December

A roundup of works underway or soon to start around Orkney, for the week starting 5 December.

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 a revised schedule for the road works and road closures on the B9055 Brodgar Road which are expected to continue into mid December. Note that Phase 4 is almost complete and work will restart to finish Phase 3 (with closures from Buckan Cottage to Lyking Road) from Monday 5 December. 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 – works are planned to restart on 5 December and take three days to complete.
• Phase 4 Lyking Road to A967 – should be completed by the end of this week (Friday 2 December).

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 has also started on repairing a streetlighting fault in the vicinity of the Glaitness cycle path, with the possibility of closure at times to enable works to be carried out safely – these will be kept to a minimum. Currently closures are likely over the next week on the path between Pickaquoy Loan and Muddisdale Road (ie behind Glaitness School).

Work is due to take place on Quoyloo Road between West Bain and Kierfiold Farm from 7 to 13 December 2022 under road closure conditions, a signed diversion route will be in place for the duration of the work on site.

Looking ahead:

Work is planned to take place on the Yesnaby Road on 14 to 16 December 2022, with the road being closed for the duration. Delays to affected properties will be minimised when possible.

Resurfacing works on the Holm Road/Easdale Loan junction is planned to start on 4 January 2023, for around four days. (These are works rescheduled from October to allow Openreach to repair a manhole in the vicinity.) 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.

Work is planned to start on the A964 between Scorradale Road and Gyre Road (in vicinity of Nealand Kennels) on 9 January 2023. It is likely the work will need to be carried out under road closure conditions, but this will be confirmed. Further details including impacts on school transport and/or public buses (Service 2 – Houton) will follow.

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