A major route in and out of Portishead is to close overnight next week - as work on a major road widening scheme nears completion.
The work costing £1.6 million to widen Wyndham Way – the main route into town – started in December and is due to be completed at the end of May.
The scheme has involved widening a 500 metre stretch of the A369 Wyndham Way between the Sheepway and the 'sail' roundabout to create a second lane for traffic heading into the town.
The aim of the scheme is to increase capacity and stop queues backing up onto the Portbury Hundred and M5 during the evening rush hour.
A series of overnight road closures have now been announced to allow resurfacing work to be carried out.
These will be on May 6 and 7 from 8pm to 6am.
A signed diversion will be in place via the High Street.
The road will close again for three nights the following week, 8pm-6am, on May 11, 12 and 13 and for two final nights on May 18 and 19.
North Somerset Council executive member for transport Councillor James Tonkin said: “These overnight closures will allow engineers to resurface Wyndham Way to finish a scheme that started earlier this year.
“Roadworks are essential, so we have been able to continue the work with some changes on site to allow engineers to follow government guidelines around coronavirus and keep safe.
“This means the project, which had been due to finish at the end of March, has slowed, but we hope to finish most of the work by the end of May.”
The work to Wyndham Way is part of a wider scheme which will also see improvements to the M5 Portishead motorway junction carried out by Highways England.
The work to junction 19 will see the splitter island at the entrance to Gordano Services removed, allowing traffic to use that lane to travel onto the A369.
This will allow the motorway roundabout to be remarked providing two full lanes to be used by Portishead bound traffic.
The work is aimed at tackling the large queues that form on the inside lane of the southbound carriageway on the Avonmouth Bridge.
At peak times - such as morning and evening rush hour - queues can often stretch the length of the bridge and as far back as the Avonmouth junction.
As a result some motorists are reportedly trying to cut in from other lanes, causing accidents.
The two finished projects will increase capacity on Wyndham Way, reduce queues on Portbury Hundred, and allow more traffic to pass through the motorway junction, reducing queues on the M5.
