Lights go up to allow for improvements at ‘vital link’

WORK at the junction of Ascot Drive and Osmaston Road is well under way and is expected to continue for three months.

Temporary traffic lights, which will change position depending on which part of the road is being worked on, were put in place yesterday.

Derby City Council announced the £100,000 project to improve the busy junction back in February.

A council spokesperson said that work is expected to be completed on April 12, “although there will be more works to follow as the junction is to be resurfaced”.

The improvements include the widening of Osmaston Road and Ascot Drive to accommodate a three-metre wide cycle link which will lead to new toucan crossing facilities – designed for both pedestrians and cyclists.

The work will take place between the hours of 8.30am and 3.30pm and the temporary traffic lights will operate 24 hours a day.

Motorists can expect delays especially at peak times. The roadworks on Osmaston Road caused delays throughout yesterday

The project, funded by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, was designed to improve the “vital link between the city centre, Infinity Park Derby and local residential areas”. Queues of traffic along Osmaston Road yesterday morning were described as “heavy”

Here is when each phase of the roadworks will take place and what exactly will be happening: ■■January 14-January 25 Site preparation will take place across these dates and will last approximately two weeks;

■■January 28-February 8 During this time period, there will be water and electricity diversion works and further site preparation which will last approximately two weeks.

■■February 11-April 12 Carriageway widening which take place across these dates will last around nine weeks in total.

Work to widen the carriageway has been broken down in to four stages.

The work to widen the north side of Osmaston Road and the west side of Ascot Drive will take around three weeks.

The re-kerbing on the eastern side of Ascot Drive from Thirsk Place to Osmaston Road will take approximately three weeks.

The installation of staggered refuges on Osmaston Road and Ascot Drive will last around three weeks.

New signals will be set up and this is set to take one week.