You may have noticed traffic cones being placed out on the relief road this morning in the Chapel Lane area.
They were put in place so that traffic monitoring equipment could be installed.
Work was also carried out later on at the opposite end of the road, near Veasta Roundabout, to install a car park guidance sign (part of the Weymouth Transport Package showcase element).
During the rest of November surfacing works will continue across the scheme.
The surface course on the northern section – the main road from Dorchester end to Icen Lane – has been finished, and the white lining, road studs and barriers will be completed by the end of the month.
Kerbing and road construction will progress within the Littlemoor pond area with tarmac programmed to be laid at the end of November.
The Jurassic and Bincombe Bumps roundabouts are taking shape. There is still a significant amount of drainage work to be completed in the area, however, kerb and drainage kerb installation has started, which help mark out the form of the roads and roundabouts in the area.
The middle section of Littlemoor Road will be surfaced to binder course by the end of November, and work will then start on footpaths, street lighting and signage.
The Littlemoor corridor has been surfaced and work is progressing southwards completing the verge works.
At Two Mile Coppice the road formation is being completed. The main line around Veasta Roundabout and on to Manor Roundabout is programmed to be surfaced in the early part of December.
June was a good month for the project, with fine weather meaning the bulk earth moving for the project has been finished.
During July the earthworks will be ‘trimmed’ to get the final levels for embankments and roundabouts correct. The main areas for this are Ridgeway, the balancing ponds at Littlemoor and the southern part of the scheme by Manor Railway bridge, Two Mile Coppice and Lodmoor. (more…)
This photo shows construction of the reinforced earth wall that leads up to the Two Mile Coppice underpass. The wall is being seeded as it is built, and over time it will look like a tall grass bank.
Elsewhere, there’s a lot of work between Littlemoor and Ridgeway to complete cable trenches and drainage.
Earthworks to form the road, footpaths and roadside bunds will also continue from Chalbury Basin to the Littlemoor ponds. There’s also a lot of drainage being put in along this section this month.
The Lodmoor Park and Ride is starting to take shape, with the bunds of earth that go around the site currently being constructed.
Work will continue on the bridges this month; some will be surfaced and waterproofed, others will have rails and vehicle restraints installed.
Chalk stabilisation, to form the first layer of the road, also starts this month.
Aerial photos of the scheme, taken in April, are now on our Flickr account.
This image shows the reopened Manor Roundabout near Morrisons, the resurfaced bridleway into Two Mile Coppice and the ongoing work to complete the surface of the railway bridge.
The underpass at Two Mile Coppice, which will keep the bridleway connected, is being finished.
The new relief road will go over this underpass, at about the same level as the railway, before dropping down into a cutting through Lorton Meadows to the north.
The last of the arches for the Two Mile Coppice underpass were put up today, so the area looks quite different from ten days ago.
The new underpass provides a route for the bridleway underneath the new road and into Two Mile Coppice, where the existing bridleway is being resurfaced as part of the overall relief road works.
The current railway underpass can be seen on the left in both photos, and the new underpass structure will take a further ten weeks to complete.
Aerial images taken in January are now available to view on our Flickr account.
In this one, you can see the progress of: Two Mile Coppice underpass, Manor railway bridge, Manor subway and Manor Roundabout.
Over the first three months of 2010, all of the structures for the Weymouth Relief Road will start to take shape and most will be completed by May.
This includes a pedestrian underpass by Manor Roundabout and an underpass beneath the new road into Two Mile Coppice, as well as all the bridges for the scheme.
The footpath over Littlemoor bridge will be open shortly, and this will give a good view of the construction of the Southdown Ridge bridge.
There will also be work over the winter on many of the bridleways for the scheme and on the cycleway from Ridgeway to Dorchester.
As soon as weather conditions become reasonably dry, the main earthworks for the road construction will restart, in preparation for starting to surface the road during the summer.
Work is progressing on the improvements to the bridleway which runs alongside Two Mile Coppice.
Here you can see the drainage layer of chalk, which has reused material from the Ridgeway.
The final surfacing will be Mendip stone or something equally pretty.
