Five weeks of new roadworks at the recently completed McDonald’s/Springfields junction of the A16 have been announced alongside work to repair Two Plank Bridge, just two months after it reopened following a two year closure.
The A16 junction itself was only fully re-opened after 14 months of work in November.
Now Lincolnshire County Council has said work needs to be done to ‘install infrastructure to prevent verge damage by lorries’.
Signs at the junction say five weeks of work will begin on March 10.
The projects were revealed when the authority announced its plans to finish work at the A16 junction at Wardentree Lane by the end of March.
In a statement sent out Richard Davies, executive member for highways, bizarrely linked that work to resurfacing needed at the recently reopened Two Plank Bridge, which is around two miles away and part of the first phase of the Spalding Western Relief Road.
Coun Davies’ statement says: “After ten months on-site, I’m glad to say we’re now just under a month away from finishing our improvements to Pinchbeck Roundabout.
“That means we’re expecting to have the roundabout fully re-open within the next four weeks, subject to weather, but with additional lanes in the roundabout itself and longer approaches and exits on the northbound A16 leg. It also means less congestion and better journey times, along with more capacity on the A16 for lorries and delivery vehicles.
“This has been a massive project that’s grown beyond simply improving Pinchbeck Roundabout. By the end of the scheme, we’ll have not only rebuilt three quarters of a mile of the A16 just south of the Pinchbeck Roundabout, but we’re also replacing the joints of the bridge over Vernatt’s Drain and are fully unblocking the drainage system between Springfield Roundabout and Pinchbeck Roundabout.
“As always, we try to carry out as much work as possible while at a particular site to avoid further disruption down the line – and this project is a perfect example of that.”
The work on the A16 junctions is part of Levelling Up funding from Central Government. The Voice has asked Lincolnshire County Council if the new work will be covered by that cost or have to come out of the council’s budget.
