Blyth beach huts. A series of roadworks are currently taking place in the area

Council reminding residents of Blyth roadworks

The county council is reminding residents and visitors to Blyth to be aware of roadworks that are taking place. 
 
On the B1523 South Newsham Road and Newcastle Road there are three separate sets of works taking place involving Northern Gas Networks carrying out essential gas main renewal on Newcastle Road and roadworks for the new Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes housing developments on South Newsham Road. 
 
To carry out these works there is a southbound one-way system in place on B1523 Newcastle Road / South Newsham Road. This was put in place from 8th June and is expected to last for twelve weeks. 
 
The one-way system is being put in place so that all of these works can be carried out together over 12 weeks rather than individual sets of multi way traffic lights for each site which would have been required for a 26-week period in total.  
 
This joint working to reduce disruption has been developed in co-ordination with the County Council and arrangements are also being put in place with Arriva for bus services to operate using revised routes. 
 
These traffic management measures will ensure contractors’ staff can work safely and efficiently as well as help protect the public.   
 
Each of the three sets of works were intended to start on 8th June, but the council is aware that while the gas main works started on that day, the two sets of housing developer works did not.  
 
The Council has been urgently following this up with the housing developers. Taylor Wimpey have now commenced works and Miller Homes have commenced site set up and will be starting works fully on Monday 13th.  
 
The council’s role has been to help co-ordinate all the works and minimise as much disruption as possible.  
 
The Council’s teams have been monitoring the diversion route.  We are aware that the additional traffic on the A1061 has caused delays on the route and we are adjusting the traffic light timings at Sandringham Drive and Fulmar Drive to improve the situation. We will continue to monitor the situation.  
 
The Council is also aware of requests to open up the ‘Bus Only’ link on the old Laverock Hall Road to all traffic during these works. However, after careful consideration, this has been considered as not appropriate on road safety grounds. 
 
 As is always the case with works like this when they first start, they need time to settle in.  During this time there are often slight tweaks that need to be made to ensure they are running as smoothly as they can. 
 
John Riddle said: “While these are not our roadworks we have been working both with the housing developers and Northern Gas Networks to co-ordinate activity to try and minimise the amount of time the highway is disrupted. 
“We will continue to monitor these works throughout.” 
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