January 27, 2020 10.29 am This story is over 51 months old

Lincoln Hawthorn Road closure begins

A diversion route will be in place

Hawthorn Road footbridge. Photo: LCC

Hawthorn Road in Lincoln was closed today as work continues at a major location of the £120 million Eastern Bypass project.

Hawthorn Road is closed from Monday, January 27 with a diversion route in place via Bunkers Hill/A158/Kennel Lane, and vice versa. This is instead of the initial planned date of December 2.

Once the bypass officially opens, a new road layout will be in place giving road users access to Hawthorn Road east from the new bypass, but with a permanent closure of Hawthorn Road from the west for drivers.

During the works, and beyond, access will be maintained for pedestrians, cyclists and others non-motorised vehicles via the new footbridge.

The footbridge was put in place in November 2019 and will link the two sides of Hawthorn Road.

In addition, the Hawthorn Road/St Augustine Road junction will be fully closed from Monday, February 3 to Thursday, April 9, with a local diversion in place.

Meanwhile, Heighington Road is expected to re-open on Friday, January 31, subject to suitable weather conditions. This is instead of the initial planned date of December 20.

Washingborough Road will close for five months from next month to allow for the construction of the final new Lincoln Eastern Bypass roundabout. Work will begin on Monday, February 17.

The overall project is now expected to be completed in autumn 2020 instead of the original planned date of December 2019, due to contractor issues and detrimental weather.

It will also be over budget, costing £120 million instead of £99 million.

Lincolnshire County Council’s highways boss recently said he is “extremely relaxed” when it comes to potential delays to the project caused by recent wet weather.