Another month of disruption (From Free Press Series)

Another month of disruption

PONTYPOOL motorists face a further four weeks disruption as work continues to repair a collapsed water culvert on a busy stretch of the A4043.

The collapsed culvert was discovered seven weeks ago when a large hole appeared next to the southbound section of the road, from the Albion Road roundabout to where it meets the A4072. Engineers have been working around the clock to repair the damage, which was originally anticipated to take six weeks.

They have been working 14 metres underground to clear the debris and temporarily secure the collapsed wall. During that time the road has been closed and motorists have faced long traffic queues during rush hour traffic, as vehicles are diverted to the Clarence roundabout, to rejoin the A4072 at Pontymoile.

The council says the culvert has been cleared and water is once again running through, but further work is needed before the road can be re-opened.

Cllr John Cunningham, executive member for operational services said: "We would like to apologise to road users for the extra time it's going to take to reopen the road. We originally estimated it would take six weeks but due to unusual nature of the job it is going to take longer. This next stage of the project should take about four weeks. This will involve repairing the wall and filling the hole in. But heavy rain does cause problems with more water flowing through the culvert while we are trying to repair it."