A section of Meadow Lane in Portadown is to be closed to facilitate pipelaying work by NI Water.
The closure comes as part of the ongoing £7.8 million Meadow Lane Wastewater Upgrade Scheme, which NI Water says will reduce the risk of out of sewer flooding, whilst supporting local development and delivering extensive environmental improvements in the area when complete.
Between Monday, April 22 and Monday, May 13, the section of Meadow Lane between Portadown Health Centre and Tavanagh Avenue will be closed to facilitate the installation of a large diameter sewer.
During this time, there will still be local access to Tavanagh Avenue and Portadown Baptist Church’s car park via Thomas Street. However, there’ll be no through access to the health centre from this point.
While the work is being completed, access to the health centre will be from the Meadows Shopping Centre side of Meadow Lane and diversions will be signposted.
Speaking about the work, NI Water’s Project Manager, Lisa Hughes said: “Our contractor has been making good progress on installing the new large diameter sewer in Meadow Lane. The next phase of works will be to connect the new sewer to the existing network at various locations. This process will require the use of more traditional open-cut methods of pipelaying.
“To ensure this first section of open-cut work can be carried out as safely as possible, it will be necessary to implement a road closure on Meadow Lane, from its junction with Tavanagh Avenue to its junction with the entrance to the health centre.”
She added: “Overall 620m of large diameter sewer – which will increase the capacity of the network and help prevent out-of-sewer flooding in the area – is being laid by tunnelling under Meadow Lane. Around one third of the new pipe is now in place and the use of the trenchless (tunnelling) methods has helped considerably to minimise disruption in the area.
“Going forward, open-cut excavations will be required to complete connections and therefore further traffic management – including short sections of road closure – will be required at another four locations between the health centre and the new pumping station adjacent to Meadow Lane Car Park.
“NI Water will advise local stakeholders on the additional traffic management details as soon as possible. In the meantime, NI Water and our project team from BSG and McAdam take this opportunity to thank residents, businesses and road users for their ongoing patience and cooperation while we continue with the tunnelling work and preparations for these vital connections. As always, every effort will be made to complete the open-cut pipelaying work in the shortest possible time frame.”
