Underground issues delay Mablethorpe Traffic Signals refurb by four weeks

Work to refurbish the traffic signals on the High Street / Victoria Road junction in Mablethorpe has been derailed after crews who were excavating the footways found unchartered underground utility ducts and cables encased in concrete.

The discovery has now meant that the team will now concentrate on finding suitable and safe locations for the new traffic light signals to be installed.

This has affected the schedule of equipment replacement within various parts of the scheme as a redesign and additional excavation work will now be needed – leading to the original scheduled end-date of December 23 being extended to January 20, 2023.

Coun Richard Davies, Executive member for Highways, has apologised for any additional disruption that the time extension may cause.

He said: “This is a frustrating development for us whilst we work to improve and refurbish this junction for the people of Mablethorpe.

“On any complex scheme like this we are always very clear that, once excavation on site begins, we may find something – or several things – that cause unforeseen issues. As we have found here, those issues can be as serious as utility ducts and cables that aren’t chartered which means that they are effectively hidden from the initial individual survey which we carry out for each job.

“We will now put considerable effort and expertise into coming up with, and carrying out, our alternative signals plan for the area. Once we have this agreed upon, we will be working extremely hard to get the programme of work completed and fully useable for Mablethorpe residents for many years to come.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their patience whilst we shift the plans accordingly and get these works underway.”

For live information on these and all other live roadworks across the county, visit www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/roadworks.