MOTORISTS face four weeks of road closures from Easter as part of a major revamp to the A3290.
The Suttons Flyover, which leads to Thames Valley Business Park, needs urgent repairs and Wokingham Borough Council has warned residents of the plans to shut the roads from Saturday, March 26.
During the works the western (northbound) carriageway on the flyover will be closed and traffic will be directed onto the southbound side, which will temporarily be turned into two single lane roads.
Lane restrictions and temporary speed limits of 30mph and 50mph will be established and an emergency breakdown service will operate.
The four sliproads feeding the Suttons Roundabout on the A4 London Road will remain open.
A letter sent out by the council to 20,000 homes in the area reveals that the work is being carried out on the 26-year-old road as a result of “wear and tear now beyond the scope of ongoing planned maintenance”.
The letter adds: “The northbound carriageway surfacing will be removed to reveal the waterproof membrane and replaced, as well as the flyover joints. The work will also improve drainage and give the road a low noise surface. This will mean that the bridge shouldn’t need significant maintenance for some time.”
Last Easter Wokingham Borough Council upgraded the opposite side – southbound – to minimise traffic disruption by splitting the scheme into two phases. As before, engineers this year will be replacing the flyover’s noisy joints on the opposite side, as well as improving drainage and giving the road a low noise surface.
This project, which is expected to last three to four weeks, will mean the bridge shouldn’t need significant maintenance for some time, and should also be quieter for nearby residents and motorists using it.
The four slip roads feeding the Suttons Roundabout, onto the A4 London Road below the flyover, will remain open throughout.
Cllr John Kaiser, executive member for planning and highways, said: “This way of splitting the project into phases during school holidays and using contraflow to keep traffic moving both ways, mirrors is exactly what we did on the Loddon Viaduct project in summer 2014. It works really well plus there are fewer cars about because people are on holiday.
“Incidentally, the second and final part of the Loddon Viaduct project is scheduled for this summer.
“The work we’re doing on Suttons Seeds is crucial. The waterproofing and joints are reaching the end of their design life on this bridge, and we were spending more and more time doing repairs. It was becoming a waste of public resources to simply keep patching it up.”
For more details on the project, log on to www.wokingham.gov.uk/suttonseeds
