They think it’s all over... road saga concludes in Strathaven

Roadworks which have brought much of Strathaven to a standstill are nearing completion.

We told you in October how business owners in the market town were at the end of their tether after Scottish Water dug up the roads.

That was part of upgrade works for a nearby housing development, which were expected to last for 35 days.

But residents and businesses have had to put up with the havoc much longer, with one source telling us the works “had a major impact on businesses”.

Now, however, it seems the majority of the work and traffic control measures have finished, with workers removing barriers last week.

Posting a picture of barriers being loaded onto a flatbed truck (pictured right), one retailer took to social media to say: “Hooray – my store has lost so many sales, hopefully now we can get back on track.”

Work that was supposed to be finished on Townhead Street before workers moved to the Common Green, was delayed, meaning the two phases of work overlapped.

That caused chaos in the town with locals forced to navigate roadworks round from the main road through the village, onto the busy and congested Common Green.

And that made for a backlog of traffic, with slow traffic light filters. It also caused problems for local businesses.

And that saw traffic in the idyllic town ground to a halt with work being carried out.

Work further into Common Green and Bridge Street was due to finish on November 17, but overran.

Thankfully it appears the work has now finished.