Roadworks on move as progress made on preparations for Hawick flood defences

Roadworks being carried out north-east of Sainsbury’s in Hawick are set to move south-west as progress on the town’s flood defences continues.

Advanced works carried out in Commercial Road since June, following a hold-up caused by the coronavirus lockdown coming into force in March, have been centred on its section between the Sainsbury’s superstore and Laing Terrace, but that phase of the project is due for completion by the end of this month.

The focus of the works will then shift south-west to the stretch of the road between Sainsbury’s and its junction with Bath Street, necessitating its closure from Thursday, October 1, onwards.

That means businesses in Commercial Road currently accessed from its Albert Road end will instead be reached via its north-east end at North Bridge.

There’ll be no change to the Commercial Road diversion route for A7 traffic, and it will continue along High Street for soundbound traffic and Wilton Hill and Princes Street for northbound traffic.

Bath Street will be made one-way from its junction with Commercial Road to the corner of the old swimming baths, but the rest of the street will remain two-way.

Selkirkshire councillor Gordon Edgar, Scottish Borders Council’s executive member for infrastructure, travel and transport, said: “The Commercial Road diversion continues to work well and will remain in place until the end of November 2020.

“It is important to say that despite the changes from October 1, access to all businesses along Commercial Road will be retained and new signage will be in place to reflect the changes to help direct customers.

“Once the advanced works are completed by December, Commercial Road is expected to fully reopen.”

Flood scheme project director Conor Price added: “SBc Contracts is currently moving public utilities to the inside of Commercial Road to remove them from the corridor through which the new flood protection wall will be constructed in 2021.

“We have spent a number of years designing these diversion works with our partner utility organisations so that the many services could be diverted during one six-month period.

“I am delighted to confirm that these works are advancing to programme and that to date there have been no service outages to any of the utility customers.

“We remain on programme to have these works completed by December, and thus to have all traffic management removed from Commercial Road before Christmas.”

More information is available at www.hawickfloodscheme.com