New! Road closure on crucial Harrogate road

Forest Lane near Belmont level crossing closed this morning with a sign saying it will reopen on Friday, February 15.

As well as current roadworks affecting drivers using Otley Road at the Prince of Wales roundabout and the Cardale Park junction, drivers coming from the Starbeck and Knaresborough side of Harrogate using Bogs Lane to avoid the terrible Knaresborough Road at rush hour have been effected again.

New cafe closure hits Harrogate prime spotJust as the Birstwith Road closure in that area has been lifted, a new one is beginning.

The whole of Kingsley Drive is to be closed for six weeks from tiday, Monday, February 4. In addition, roadworks at the the Belmont level crossing on Forest Lane which run from 11pm to 9.40am each day are still ongoing.

Most of the roadworks involve Yorkshire Water and North Yorkshire County Council performing essential work to cope with new housing developments and forthcoming cycling events coming to Harrogate such as the Tour de Yorkshire and the UCI Road World Championships.

The Princes of Wales roundabout end of Otley Road is currently facing disruption until the end of April as Yorkshire Water gets to work on improving water pipes.

The length of time of the repairs reflects the necessity to dig up three different roads in the immediate area.

As soon as those are completed after Easter, the authority responsible for Harrogate’s roads, North Yorkshire County Council, has the urgent task of bringing the same area up to scratch in time for two huge cycling events in Harrogate - the Tour de Yorkshire in May and UCI World Road Championships in September.

The county council says its Area 6 highways team is now targeting resurfacing works on Otley Road before the Tour de Yorkshire which starts on Thursday, May 2.

The county council has already done most of the work required to bring the important Harrogate town centre circuit up to scratch, such as the Duchy estate roads and Penny Pot Lane which was done last year.

But further pre-race highways repairs have also been identified for the bottom end of Cornwall Road close to the entrance to Valley Gardens. And Swan Road and Crescent Road also feature on the Harrogate circuit as does an area around the steep Pot Bank.

All of these areas will be subject to repair work during the opening months of this year.

Prince of Wales roundabout: Harrogate roadworks timetable 2019

Yorkshire Water's scheme to lay a clean water pipe in the vicinity of the Prince of Wales roundabout in Harrogate will lead to months of disruption

To ensure the safety of the onsite team and road users it will be necessary to have traffic management in place whilst the work takes place and Trinity Road will be closed to vehicular traffic

Phase 1

The scheme will be completed in phases with the first phase starting in Otley Road on 7 January and is expected to take until the end of January to complete. Two-way traffic management will be in place along Otley Road which will be in operation 24 hours a day. Pipe laying will also commence in Trinity Road during this phase.

Phase 2

The second phase of the scheme will commence around early March and will require lane closures in Leeds Road and two-way traffic lights in operation 24 hours a day.

Phase 3

The third stage will begin once phase two is completed and is anticipated to be mid to late March. This phase will be in York Place. Due to the proximity of the traffic lights at Station Parade multi-way traffic lights will be in operation.

Phase 4

The fourth and final stage will see the company return to Otley Road to connect up the new pipe to the existing network and once again will require two-way traffic lights in place.