Road closure on A153 due to further repair works between Billinghay and Tattershall

The essential works will mean that the road will have to be closed from next Monday (June 13) for 11 days.

Work has been ongoing for two months to replace a deteriorated small span bridge underneath the A153 and was originally scheduled to finish by June 24.

The road remained open with traffic lights while the works took place.

But as things have progressed, the engineers undertaking the job discovered an area in the middle of the bridge that needs further extensive repair. Because this unforeseen extra work is in the middle of the bridge itself, the road will have to undergo a full closure, say county highways chiefs.

The road will now be closed entirely from 6am on Monday June 13 until 5pm on Friday June 24.

The diversion route will run through Woodhall Spa and Martin before returning to the A153.

Karen Cassar, assistant director of highways said: “Unfortunately, there is no way for us to avoid further disruption to traffic around these newly-discovered essential works on the A153.

“Because of the position of the area that needs extra repair we will have to close the road entirely for 11 days. We have looked at every alternative to doing this but, in this instance, we have no safe alternative available.

“As always, we have to consider the safety of the road users and work crews as our main priority so the closure will happen to ensure everyone involved is as safe as possible whilst the work is in progress. It’s unfortunate and the discovery of this extra repair need will cause some disruption which we apologise for – but in this case it can’t be avoided despite our best efforts.

“The bridge is in critical need of this rebuild. We would like to thank everyone affected by this latest addition to work for their continued patience whilst we get the task done.”

Emergency repair work on the culvert was originally done in April 2020 after part of the road collapsed.