NETWORK Rail is warning motorists that delays on the A4 London Road will continue for another week at least.
Earlier this week, scaffolding was removed from the railway bridge that divides Reading with Wokingham borough.
It was erected in February so the company could undertake a major renovation project on the historic crossing that sees Great Western and South Western railway trains go from Palmer Park into Newtown. It was originally built in 1907.
At the time, a Network Rail spokesperson said the steelworks would be shotblast back to bare metal, corrosion treated and then painted. A sheeted covering, to stop paint and debris from escaping, was erected along with scaffolding.
“Clearly London Road is an important route into Reading so we’re going to paint half the bridge at a time, keeping one lane of the road open at all times, with temporary traffic lights,” they said.
“It’s not ideal as we know this will cause some disruption, but the nature of the work and the need to keep our people safe while doing it, means we need to take this step.”
The work was due to end by Tuesday, May 9, but this date has slipped, and now Network Rail expects it to be completed during the week of May 22. But even this revised end point could be moved.
The delay is due to the workforce discovering they needed to underatke additional repairs to the steelwork.
Now the final touches are being put to the works.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “I can confirm that at London Road we dropped scaffold on phase II on Tuesday, May 9, and Wednesday, May 10, and the steelwork repairs have been complete for the traffic management swap Thursday night to allow us to install the bird proofing and final masonry repairs on phase I.
“We plan to be off-site week commencing May 22, as planned.
“The only caveat is the weather which is set poor so may have an impact on areas that are outside of the encapsulation.”
