Work required to be extended on Soulton Road in Wem

The current drainage and resurfacing work on Soulton Road in Wem has been extended, after an unforeseen supply issue left the workforce short of the materials required to complete the job.

An application to extend the current road closure was submitted to Shropshire Council on 20 March 2015, with the work now aiming to be completed by Friday 17 April 2015.

A spokesperson for Shropshire Council’s term consultants Mouchel was apologetic and explained the plans for the Easter period, saying:

“We’re disappointed with the situation and the further disruption to road users and residents. In order to try and minimise any further disruption over the Easter period, when many people travel, we are planning to partially reopen the road from the evening of Thursday 2 April 2015 until early morning on Monday 13 April 2015, before closing again in order for the job to be completed. We’ve had to balance the needs of roadusers over a popular and busy period for travel, alongside the need to finish the work and keep both the roadusers and our workforce safe as it is completed.

“The current closure was due to finish at the end of March 2015, but there has been great difficulty in getting hold of all the materials needed. We tried all our local suppliers, but none were able to supply at the rate required. Bituminous material can only be supplied at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, and the difficulties stem from a major increase in demand recently.”

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