Fears voiced over traffic in Hawick terraces once Commercial Road is closed

Construction of the town’s £44m flood defences requires partial closure of Commercial Road between its Wilton Lane junction and the entrance to Sainsbury’s supermarket from Tuesday, March 24, until just before Christmas.

And this week’s meeting of Hawick Community Council was warned by one of its members, Jim Adams, that the already-congested terraced parts of the town will suffer most.

“The traffic chaos has started on the terraces already,” he said.

“Princes Street is becoming the A7 in a few days’ time, and that will impact even further on the terraces It needs to have an eye kept on.”

Diversions will be in place via Princes Street, and it’s being made one-way from its Dickson Street junction to Dovemount Place until the closure ends at 6pm on Friday, December 18.

Hawick and Hermitage councillor George Turnbull said flood team officials currently based in the town’s library are ready and willing to listen to townsfolk’s concerns, as are police officers in the Scottish Borders Council-funded community action teams.

“They will take on board what you are saying, I’m sure,” he said. “The terraces were an item of business at the last community action team meeting.

“They have been an issue for years and are always hit hard when there is any disruption in the town centre.

“The terraces were never designed to take the volume of car ownership and traffic levels that are now commonplace and further aggravated by inconsiderate people who park their vehicles at or close to road junctions and pavement parking soon to be illegal.

“We have got the added problem of people with local knowledge using those streets rather than sitting at traffic lights.

“I will liaise with the community action team and flood group officials and keep an eye on it, but if you restrict certain places in the terraces, you are just going to offload traffic elsewhere. It’s a huge problem.”

A flood protection scheme spokesman added: “The project team appreciate the ongoing disruption that the works are causing and we would like to thank the people of Hawick for their patience and co-operation.

“These works are essential for the delivery of flood protection to the town.

“The diversion routes will be monitored closely during the closure to ensure measures put in place are working effectively and with minimal disruption.”

During the works traffic will be diverted around Commercial Road via the A7, Mart Street, Bourtree Place, High Street, Tower Knowe, Sandbed, Albert Road, Wilton Path and Princes Street.