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14/11/2001
Road works set to begin on busiest section of M1
A £3.85 million road works scheme will see the busiest section of the M1, which carries around 64,000 vehicles per day, reduced to two narrow lanes over the Black’s Road and Kingsway Bridges.
The work, which will commence on Saturday, November 17, involves essential bridge strengthening work to repair the bridge decks and abutments.
A spokesperson for the Department for Regional Development’s Roads Service said: "When the bridge repair work is taking place, two lanes will be kept in use on the motorway in each direction. However, these lanes will be narrower than normal and no hard shoulders will be available on this stretch of motorway for the period of the contract.
"Motorists are asked to be patient, drive with extra care through the road works and obey all traffic signs, particularly the 50 mph speed limit.
"This traffic management arrangement has been used successfully on the M1 motorway on a number of occasions to undertake major bridge strengthening work. While it is inevitable that the public will experience some inconvenience, disruption to traffic will be kept to a minimum through the careful planning and phasing of the road works, particularly in the run up to Christmas."
Both motorway slip roads at the Black’s Road junction will be restricted to one lane, and commuters have been warned to expect longer delays than normal joining the motorway at Black’s Road junction at peak times.
The first phase of the scheme will involve temporarily widening the motorway so that four lanes of traffic can be accommodated on either carriageway. This will allow the bridge deck carrying one carriageway to be demolished and reconstructed.
Traffic management re-arrangements during the different phases of the work will require the motorway to be closed on six occasions at weekends, between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Traffic will be diverted between the Stockman’s Lane and the Saintfield Road, Lisburn junctions at Largymore.
The Roads Service has distributed around 25,000 traffic information leaflets to households and businesses in the Dunmurry and Derriaghy areas.
The leaflet gives details of the diversion routes for traffic when the M1 motorway, Black’s Road and Kingsway are closed. (SP)
The work, which will commence on Saturday, November 17, involves essential bridge strengthening work to repair the bridge decks and abutments.
A spokesperson for the Department for Regional Development’s Roads Service said: "When the bridge repair work is taking place, two lanes will be kept in use on the motorway in each direction. However, these lanes will be narrower than normal and no hard shoulders will be available on this stretch of motorway for the period of the contract.
"Motorists are asked to be patient, drive with extra care through the road works and obey all traffic signs, particularly the 50 mph speed limit.
"This traffic management arrangement has been used successfully on the M1 motorway on a number of occasions to undertake major bridge strengthening work. While it is inevitable that the public will experience some inconvenience, disruption to traffic will be kept to a minimum through the careful planning and phasing of the road works, particularly in the run up to Christmas."
Both motorway slip roads at the Black’s Road junction will be restricted to one lane, and commuters have been warned to expect longer delays than normal joining the motorway at Black’s Road junction at peak times.
The first phase of the scheme will involve temporarily widening the motorway so that four lanes of traffic can be accommodated on either carriageway. This will allow the bridge deck carrying one carriageway to be demolished and reconstructed.
Traffic management re-arrangements during the different phases of the work will require the motorway to be closed on six occasions at weekends, between Saturday night and Sunday morning. Traffic will be diverted between the Stockman’s Lane and the Saintfield Road, Lisburn junctions at Largymore.
The Roads Service has distributed around 25,000 traffic information leaflets to households and businesses in the Dunmurry and Derriaghy areas.
The leaflet gives details of the diversion routes for traffic when the M1 motorway, Black’s Road and Kingsway are closed. (SP)
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