RESURFACING work at a major Poole road junction is about to begin as months of improvements near completion.

The busy junction of Ashley Road with Richmond Road will be closed on Sunday with five days of resurfacing work due to start today.

To minimise disruption Borough of Poole will undertake the work outside of peak hours, between 9.30am and 4pm.

However stop-go boards will manage the traffic and delays are expected.

On Sunday both Richmond Road and Churchill Road will be closed at the junction with Ashley Road.

During the closure the morebus M1 service will be diverted to run along Bournemouth Road in the daytime and will not stop outside the Ashley Road shops.

It is anticipated that the carriageway will re-open around 5pm, when the M1 will revert back to its usual route.

Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services, Borough of Poole, said: “On Ashley Road, in particular, we have ensured that the work programme is developed to seek a balance between getting the work done as quickly as possible and minimising the impact on traffic in this busy road.

“However, the resurfacing works at the junction in addition to resurfacing a large part of the road will see delays over a few days.

“We apologise for unavoidable delays while the works take place and would like to thank everyone, including the bus companies who will be diverting some bus routes, for their continued patience.”

Further resurfacing works on Ashley Road will take place in the next few weeks with significant delays expected. The road between Richmond Road and Mansfield Road will be resurfaced on Sunday, July 20 between approximately 8am and 6pm.

Temporary traffic signals will be in place and the work will continue on Monday, July 21 and Tuesday, July 22 during off-peak hours, from 9.30am to 4pm.

Further work will take place in September between Jubilee Road and Albert Road.