Haulier calling for A18 rethink

MOTORISTS face misery with long delays through Grimsby when the A18 is closed for four months from September, according to a Northeast Lincolnshire haulier.

Paul Brewster said businesses will suffer extra costs and a long detour for many when the busy route is closed for roundabout works. Traffic using the A18 between Laceby and Ludborough to join the A16 would normally take about 13 minutes over the 9.6-mile route. But the detour due to the closure, will take traffic into Grimsby and mean a 13-mile journey, taking 29 minutes.

The recommended diversion will take traffic along the A16 into Grimsby’s Peaks Parkway and along Weelsby Road and Laceby Road for westbound traffic.

But Mr Brewster said some drivers may be tempted to take shortcuts through Cheapside, Waltham or Waltham High Street and through picturesque Bradley village.

The A18 was due to close at the start of February for the creation of a new roundabout linking to Waltham Road, Barnoldby-le-Beck.

But North East Lincolnshire Council said agreements with landowners had delayed the closure plan. The work was then rescheduled to take place in May.

Now, it has been postponed until September to allow time for the land purchase to complete and to avoid diverting high summer traffic through Grimsby. But Mr Brewster believes a one-way system would be the best solution for the A18 works. He said: “It was all meant to have linked up with the work done last year and start after the elections in May. But no one has consulted with the hauliers.

“If they were to work six days a week and not clock off at 4pm the work could take half the time. When we get into September the nights draw in sooner so it is going to take four months to get the work done. “By then you will have all the farm vehicles for harvest time and the majority of the grain going to Immingham docks will come along the A18. One business alone has up to three lorries a day.

“They plan to direct them through Toll Bar, Peaks Parkway, Weelsby Road and along Laceby Road. That is a lot of traffic going through the town. Some, using sat nav, will end up using Scartho Road and Louth Road or through Bradley and Cheapside instead and it is just going to create bottlenecks. How are residents going to like having 44-tonne lorries going through their villages?” He recalled the success of hauliers after lobbying highways chiefs to create a one-way system on the A1173 at Stallingborough when NELC first proposed a full road closure.

The detour would have added 30 to 40 minutes to lorry journeys. Following negotiations a one-way system was introduced in January last year.

Last year contractors completed £2.8million road safety improvements along the A18 on the stretch between the Laceby A48/A18 roundabout and Laceby Golf Club. North East Lincolnshire Council portfolio holder for highways, Councillor Stewart Swinburn said hauliers have been consulted with the Haulage Association kept informed.

He said: “The first part of the work on the A18 was completed nine weeks ahead of schedule, so we will see with this project.

“We will do everything we can to minimise the time. We will be sticking to the schedule.”