Bristol under siege from roadworks

Drivers are facing delays across the city with major roadworks on several main commuter routes.

Work is taking place on Bridge Valley Road in Clifton, the A4 Bath Road and the A4174 ring road. There is also work being done on stretches of the M4 and M5.

Roadworks, lane closures and temporary traffic lights are also in place throughout the city, including at Stapleton Road in Easton, near the entrance of Temple Meads station, Hartcliffe Way in Hartcliffe and in other areas of the A4 Bath Road in Brislington.

Bristol city council spokeswoman Kate Hartas said: "A lot of the work is to do with fixing problems with signals, and filling potholes that were damaged or caused by the icy weather. Certain things need repairing, especially on the main roads.

"Then there is also a difficulty with what you could call a contractor drought. All over the country contractors are working flat out, which makes co-ordinating all the work in Bristol very difficult. When we can get hold of a contractor, we take them on, rather than waiting for a different time when they might not be available."

Essential safety work began yesterday which requires Bridge Valley Road in Clifton to be closed for several weeks – and it could remain partly closed for about four months. The closure is necessary for work to be done on the retaining wall above the road, which links Clifton Down at the top of the Avon Gorge with the Portway at the bottom.

The latest monitoring results have revealed that there has been a significant acceleration in the outward movement of the wall, leading to concerns about its stability. The council says the wall needs to be reduced in height.

Diversions are in place – from the north they will take motorists along Canford Lane, Sylvan Way and the Portway; diversions from Redland or Cotham will divert to Whiteladies Road and diversions from the south will take drivers to Jacob's Wells Road and the Portway.

Work to fix drainage problems also started yesterday at the junction of the A4 Bath Road and A4320 St Philip's Causeway, with road closures due to begin on Monday, March 15.

Work on the junction is expected to last at least 10 weeks and is being carried out to solve flooding.

There will be temporary traffic lights and lane closures, although at least one lane in each direction will be open at any one time.

On the A4174 ring road close to Marsham Way at Longwell Green, there are roadworks and a lane closure for street cleaning.

South Gloucestershire Council spokesman Stephen Knowlson said: "The ring road is getting a spring clean due to the accumulation of litter from vehicles using the road – there is a three-week campaign of litter removal and enforcement for the road starting on March 8."

There is also road improvement work on the A4174 ring road between Coldharbour Lane and junction one of the M32 as part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network project, which will widen the carriageway to provide more priority vehicle lanes in each direction.

"This scheme will add additional highway capacity and will benefit all road users," added Mr Knowlson. "Preparatory site clearance work is being undertaken prior to the widening work that will commence later in the spring."

On the motorways, work is being done to replace the steel central reservation barrier with a safer concrete barrier on the M4 and M5.

The work is being carried out on a three-mile stretch between Junction 15 of the M5 (Almondsbury) and Junction 17 (Cribbs Causeway) and a further four miles between Junction 18 of the M4 (Bath) and Junction 19 (M32 Bristol).

The work will be completed by the end of March.