National Grid has confirmed that Alderley Edge bypass will close to enable them to carry out essential works.
National Grid is refurbishing two sections of overhead line which run between Daines near Manchester, Macclesfield and Cellarhead near Stoke on Trent, at a cost of £28 million.
As part of this essential work, the company needs to close the Alderley Edge bypass for a period of 18 days between Wednesday 20th June and Saturday 7th July to replace wires which are carried on the pylons which span the highway.
These are part of the larger network of overhead lines, underground cables and substations that carry high voltage electricity across the country.
During the work, National Grid will aim to re-open the bypass between 6.30pm and 6.30am each day if it is safe to allow motorists to pass along the road.
William Fenton, Project Manager said: "We will be doing our best to keep traffic flowing during our work which is why we have taken the decision to open the bypass through the evening and the night when possible.
"We have looked at all the options to try to keep the bypass open during our work but because of the position and the lay of the land around the towers which cross the road, we aren't able to use scaffolding and netting or other techniques for replacing the line.
"We were also asked by Cheshire East Council to consider night-time working but after assessing this suggestion decided that this would have been far too dangerous for our workers and for people using the road underneath the line.
"We would ask people to be patient with us. We'll do everything we can to get our work completed as quickly as possible. We know that the bypass closure will increase traffic on other local roads but we would stress that our work is vital and means that people will be able to continue to rely on having energy at their finger tips whenever they want it."
National Grid has worked closely with Cheshire East Council in planning this refurbishment work, which will keep the lines in good working order.
Councillor Rod Menlove, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services, said: "We know that this is going to cause quite some disruption to our residents and local businesses and we would ask that commuters avoid driving through the middle of Alderley Edge during this time.
"While we have looked at all possible options to minimise disruption, we have to bear in mind that the health and safety of drivers below the power lines and contractors working above the bypass, must come first.
"We are working closely with our colleagues at National Grid to ensure that the work is carried out safely and within the time frame agreed and we would like to thank residents, businesses and commuters in advance for their cooperation and understanding."
A special contact number has been set up for people to ring if they have any questions about National Grid's work. The number is 0800 389 7235.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I share his cynicism on this matter.
We're talking to Network Rail about the work we need to do above their line. We'll be looking to fit this in around the train timetable to avoid disrupting services. This is vital work which will make sure that people in Alderley Edge and beyond can continue to count on having electricity at the flick of a switch.
Accepting that you want to avoid disruption to Network Rail, why can't this also be scheduled to coincide with local school holidays when the traffic in the village drops dramatically?
What payment is made for the road shutting, and to who?
National Grid will probably need possessions of the Railway line and my guess ( based on the fun we had getting possessions to build the bypass ) is that these will only be given at night. If extremely short term possessions in the day are sufficient allow the work over the Railway, then very short term closures of the bypass could do exactly the same - but I do not believe that day time possessions will be allowed.
So - National Grid will almost certainly end up either working with netting and scaffolding for the railway in the day, or night time working. Both of which Tom says are not possible for the bypass. Shutting a railway line is a horribly expensive affair but shutting a road is free.
The problem is that National Grid have simply not consulted the local residents, have no idea of the disruption that this will cause and the increase in risk to life and limb that will occur in Alderley Village. WE all know what the traffic was like in the village before the bypass came - National Grid have no idea.
I am disappointed that neither the Parish Council nor Frank through the auspices of CEC have called National Grid to account on this issue. When Cheshire County Council were having problems with Network Rail over the bypass - I got my ass into the Head Office and had a meeting with Senior Managers - I do not hear of anything like this happening now....
I spent 10 years as the County Councillor getting the damn bypass built - I would hope that my successors could at least keep the thing open.
An answer to this and the others raised eagerly awaited.
Interesting to note no response yet from Tom, or their 'PR' department.
Nice to see Tom is keeping up with customer service when questions are asked!
Where/who do I complain to about this decision made by our spineless council?
Mmmmm. Seems at that point they had not even considered closing the road when there would have been less traffic on it to disrupt or to go through the village.
So if they had not needed to close it at night if they had been working why the need to during the day.
Monks Heath cross roads has just had the same work carried out over it and scaffolding was deemed adequate over such a busy section of road when there is an alternative route available for traffic to have been diverted around it.