Motorists face disruption as local HS2 roadworks start this week

Three new sets of HS2 roadworks are due to start in and close to Warwickshire[1] this week as construction of the controversial high-speed rail line continues. A section of the A429 Coventry[2] Road near Kenilworth[3] will close to enable trial hole excavations to locate utilities and to replace plant crossing signposts. "Due to the size of the equipment we will be using, and the limited verge space on the carriageway, we must put in place a full road closure to ensure safe working," the HS2 in Warwickshire webpage says.

The closure will be in place from 9.30am to 3.30pm, off peak hours, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The road will reopen after 3.30pm on May 3. Four-way traffic lights will be in place at the roundabout with Lark Road, near Southam Trading Estate, as HS2 engineers carry out utility trial hole surveys on the B4451 Kineton Road.

The lights will be in force from 8am on Wednesday (May 3) to 5.30pm the following day. A section of Banbury Road near to Wormleighton, at the Warwickshire border with west Northamptonshire, will be fully closed 24-hours a day, from Tuesday (May 2) to Friday (May 5). A section of the nearby Warwick[5] Road in Boddington will close from Tuesday, May 9 to Wednesday, May 24.

Temporary traffic lights are to be installed at the Welsh Road junction with Ridgeway Lane near Leamington Spa[6] to enable bat surveys to be conducted by specialist ecologists. Those studies are not due to take place until May 13. Phase one of HS2 travels right the way through Warwickshire, where a large number of fields have been churned into what critics see as unsightly building sites.

Phase 2b of the line, travelling between Curzon Street Station in Birmingham and the north of England, also impacts on the Warwickshire countryside. "Phase One of HS2, between London and the West Midlands, is under construction, while plans for Phase 2b, from the West Midlands to the North of England will be considered by Parliament in future," HS2 says. "Further north of the (Curzon Street) junction, the route passes through Lea Marston where it splits to join the Phase 2b route in a north-easterly direction past Kingsbury." For all the latest roadworks in our area, visit the HS2 in Warwickshire webpage[7].

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References

1. ^ Warwickshire (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
2. ^ Coventry (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
3. ^ Kenilworth (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
4. ^ Glorious images give a brilliant glimpse at 1953 coronation celebrations in Nuneaton (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
5. ^ Warwick (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
6. ^ Leamington Spa (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
7. ^ HS2 in Warwickshire webpage (www.hs2.org.uk)
8. ^ Warwickshire (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
9. ^ daily newsletter. (data.reachplc.com)