Note from the county council
Waverley Road to be closed and buses diverted as National Grid Gas continue St Albans essential gas mains replacement works
As school goes out National Grid will be going in with a four week road closure to continue vital upgrade work to help ensure the people of St Albans continue to enjoy safe and reliable gas supplies in future years.
The project involves replacing 2.1km of ageing metallic gas mains with tough new plastic pipes which should last for many years.
The latest phase of work requires a closure of Waverley Road between the junctions with Batchwood Drive, Ladies Grove and Everlasting Lane, as well as the use of 2 way temporary traffic signals on Batchwood Drive. Works will commence on Monday 25 July and are expected to last four weeks
The road closure has been agreed after detailed discussion and planning with the Herts Highways Network Management team and a diversion via Batchwood Drive, Folly Lane and Normandy Road will be put in place.
The closure will prevent the normal 300 and 301 bus routes servicing Normandy Road, Waverly Road and St Albans City Hospital. However a replacement bus service, funded by National Grid, has been arranged to service all affected bus stops. The replacement bus service will run from 8am – 5pm seven days per week
Work has been carefully planned in close discussion with the local authority to ensure disruption is minimised. Wherever possible the new mains are being inserted into the old mains, which reduces the need for large scale digging.
National Grid construction operations engineer Kevin Blundell said: “We are carrying out this phase of the work in the school summer holidays when roads are generally quieter to reduce inconvenience for the community. However people will still need to allow extra time for their journeys. We apologise for any disruption our work may cause. However this is short term inconvenience for long term gain and the end result of the project will be new gas mains which should provide many years of reliable service.”
Work is being carried out by the North London Gas Alliance, a partnership between National Grid and Skanska.
The work forms part of National Grid’s ongoing programme to replace all metal gas mains within 30 metres of buildings, as agreed with the Health and Safety Executive.