A £3 million project to improve water quality across Tyneside is set to continue in Newcastle city centre.
Since last August, Northumbrian Water has been working across parts of Newcastle, North Tyneside and Gateshead for short periods of time, cleaning and upgrading 9 kilometres of water mains.
Now, the project will reach the east end of Claremont Road in Newcastle, where work will get underway between Monday May 13, 2019 and Friday June 7, 2019.
The work, which is being carried out by Northumbrian Water’s supply partners, Mott Macdonald Bentley, will involve investigations of the water network along Claremont Road.
This will allow the water company to finalise the proposals for upgrading the water pipes, before returning to carry out the work during the summer holidays.
Once the project is complete, tap water quality will be improved for around 500,000 customers.
To ensure a safe working environment, Northumbrian Water is working closely with Newcastle City Council and will have traffic management measures in place during the work.
This will consist of a lane closure of west bound traffic along Claremont Road (B1318), from the Queen Victoria Road / Park Terrace roundabout, to the A167 slip road roundabout.
The diversion route will be to head east from the Queen Victoria Road / Park Terrace roundabout down Claremont Road to the Hancock Museum then back onto the A167 from the Great North Road.
As part of the cleaning programme, activity will also be continuing along City Road between Tuesday May 28, 2019 and Friday June 14, 2019 and will require a lane closure along a short section of City Road at Sallyport Crescent.
The lane closure will be at the north end of the Forster Street/City Road junction. A diversion is being put in place around Pandon Bank, Melbourne Street, Buxton Street and Gibson Street.
Graeme Ridley, Northumbrian Water’s Project Manager, said: “It’s really important that we continue to supply the highest quality water to our customers. The work that we’re doing now will help us to achieve that, by enabling us to come back into the area and clean and upgrade the mains, using quicker, less disruptive techniques than traditional methods.
“We appreciate that this will result in some short term disruption in the meantime, but we are working with Newcastle City Council to try and keep disruption to a minimum and will have someone in place 24/7 to ensure that traffic continues to flow.
“We apologise to those who are affected by the work, and thank them for their patience and understanding.”
To find out more about the work, customers can visit the ‘Tyneside Water Main Cleaning’ page on www.nwlcommunityportal.co.uk.