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Local Road ImprovementsA338/Blackwater Junction to be fully reopened for ChristmasAll four lanes on the A338/Blackwater Junction will be reopened two days ahead of schedule on Saturday 8 December, in time for the Christmas period. On the nights of Thursday 6 and Friday 7 December the road will be closed southbound from 8pm, reopening at 6am the following morning, to remove the lane closure, allowing traffic to flow freely from 6am on Saturday 8 December. Work will still continue on the drainage and widening the embankment southbound up until Friday 21 December, without impacting on traffic. Gary Powell, Head of Highways and Transportation and the senior responsible officer for the A338 improvements, said: "We are constantly looking at ways to speed up the programme, so we are really pleased that we have been able to reopen all four lanes two days earlier than planned. This will provide some welcome relief to those road users affected by these works and is also great news for residents and businesses looking to make the most of Christmas shopping, festivities and events in Bournemouth, Christchurch and surrounding areas." Martin Davies, Chair of the Bournemouth Town Centre BID, added: "We are delighted that the A338 roadworks are being lifted two days ahead of schedule as it will enable even more people to come and enjoy the exciting retail offering in Bournemouth this year and of course to visit the amazing Christmas Tree Wonderland." Overnight road closures will be in place southbound for two nights on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 January 2019 from 8pm to 6am to reinstall the steel barriers and reduce the road back to one lane, in a similar layout to the last phase of work. This will mean that from Sunday morning, 6 January, two lanes will be available southbound heading towards the Blackwater Junction. Lane one will provide a dedicated lane for those motorists wishing to exit off the slip road to Blackwater B3073. All other motorists will use lane two heading straight to Bournemouth. From 7 January, works will continue on the widening of the southbound carriageway into the verge, installing concrete protection around the Blackwater bridge piers, building a new parapet vehicle restraint barrier over the River Stour Bridge and the new retaining bank for the new lane immediately south of the River Stour Bridge. In addition, work will start on the Cooper Dean widening works. The first phase of this will involve adding an extra lane in the verge. The A338/Blackwater improvements are scheduled to last until June 2019. Road users are advised to sign up to the A338 travel blog to stay up to date with road news or check @TravelDorset on twitter for updates. Media Release - November 2018 Phase one improvement works finishing 10-11th November Media Release - October 2018 We have issued a media release today as bridge works are set to be carried out marking a major milestone in our project. We have taken the opportunity to recap on the works underway as part of the Dorset LEP's BIG Programme which you are already well aware of, but you may like to view the release. This also previews upcoming night closures. Works underway We're giving more information including photo and video content on social media channels, to show people the scale of the works being undertaken and this week we posted a video which explains what we're doing right now. It's also covered in this blog post. Sources of information: The best way to stay up to date is to sign up to the travel blog to receive email updates if you haven't already: A338 travel blog You can also direct colleagues and suppliers to: |