Re-opening of Higham Ferrers' Station Road delayed again

The re-opening of Higham Ferrers' Station Road has been delayed once again.

Station Road was closed due to the ongoing improvements at the Chowns Mill roundabout and was set to re-open this month.

However, Highways England has confirmed that the re-opening has now been put back until April.

But this is not the first time it has been delayed as it was initially due to re-open in November before it was put back by several months.

A spokesman for Highways England said this week: "We're working hard to complete the A45 Chowns Mill Improvement work as safely and quickly as possible.

"Work is progressing well and we remain on track to complete the work by Winter 2021/2022.

"Unfortunately, we need to delay the re-opening of Station Road (A5028) to late-April 2021.

"We recognise that this may be frustrating, please be assured that we're working hard to complete the work at this location as fast as we can.

"There are a number of reasons for the delay, including disruption to the supply of materials and resources due to Covid.

"The recent poor weather has also affected the amount of construction activities we're able to complete.

"We've listened to your concerns and to reduce noise, light pollution and other disruption we've limited the amount overnight work we've carried out.

"This has allowed us to work in other areas of the project taking advantage of daytime lane closures during the lower traffic count due to the National lockdown.

"This has resulted in us bringing forward other work scheduled for later in the year.

"Please note, we're aware of the emergency College Street closure in Higham Ferrers.

"We're working closely with Higham Ferrers Town Council to minimise any disruption to road users wherever possible."

The £24 million improvement works to the Chowns Mill roundabout reached the half-way mark this month and are due to finish winter 21/22.

To read more about the improvement scheme, click here.

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