DRIVERS are being warned to avoid roads through Hambrook, Downend, Emersons Green, Warmley and Wick, where motorway traffic is being diverted while the M4 is closed this weekend.
National Highways is closing the motorway in both directions between the Bristol and Bath junctions (19 and 18), at Hambrook and Tormarton (pictured above in red), while work is done to build four trenches for new gas and water mains, and electricity and fibre optic cables.
The utilities are currently carried by the A432 Badminton Road bridge, which is due to be demolished next year.
The motorway is closing at 7pm on Friday October 18 and will remain shut until 6am on Monday October 21.
Motorway traffic will be diverted along the M32, A4174, A420 and A46 (pictured above in blue).
After drivers leave the M4 or M32, only the A4174 Avon Ring Road is dual carriageway.
Route Manager Sean Walsh (pictured below at the bridge) said: “If you can avoid the area this weekend, please do.
“If you must drive, plan ahead, allow extra time and please stick to the diversions.”
National Highways is urging people not to follow satnav or smartphone routes that take them onto other even smaller roads.
The trenches will be dug about 100m from the bridge, with ducts laid and covered and the road resurfaced over the course of the weekend.
Noise warning for neighbours
People living near the works are being warned to expect noise throughout the weekend – particularly on Friday night, when a 55-ton chainsaw will start cutting through the road surface at 11pm to start the trench-digging process.
It is expected to take up to ten hours, until 9am on Saturday, to cut the surface for the first two trenches, with the second being cut during the day on Saturday.
Sean added: “There’s no good time to do something like this.”
Between 60 and 70 people will work in teams over the weekend.
A back-up closure date next weekend is now no longer needed.
There will be a second weekend closure early next year for the bridge to be demolished and a third after that to install the steel supports for the new bridge.
Sean said between 90,000 and 100,000 vehicles a day would normally use the closed stretch of motorway.
South Gloucestershire Council will be adjusting the timing of the lights at junction 1 of the M32, where it meets the A4174, and at Deanery roundabout in Warmley, where the route moves between the A4174 and A420, to prioritise traffic using the diversion.
A spokesperson said: “We’ll also be monitoring traffic flow in the area and will adjust sequencing at other locations if required.
“We are advising people to avoid travelling in the area if possible and if not, to be prepared for delays.”
Signs warning of the closure have been put up as far away as London, Cardiff and Manchester.
For more information visit the National Highways website.