THE first full road closure of the A338 is due to take place tonight as part of the ongoing Spur Road rebuild.

Dorset County Council confirmed the overnight work would start from 8pm and continue until 6am Saturday morning on both sides of the carriageway between Cooper Dean and Ashley Heath.

However, they said if traffic is still heavy around that time they will delay closing the road.

A signed diversion will take motorists travelling northbound off the A338 at Cooper Dean and along the A3060 Castle Lane West. At Redhill Roundabout, the route will take the A347 Whitelegg Way, then the A341 Wimborne Road and the A348 Ringwood Road before finally joining the A31 at Palmersford Roundabout.

For those travelling southbound, the route will be the same but in reverse.

Councillor Peter Finney, cabinet member for environment said: “We’re working on both sides of the carriageway digging out the crossover, where the contraflow will be coming across, and resurfacing the Blackwater area.

“The safest and quickest way to carry out this work is with a road closure,” he explained.

“Our night work is planned to start at 8pm as this is the time by which traffic flows have generally eased. If traffic is still heavy, we will delay our start time.”

The A338 is currently at day four of the £22 million nine-month programme to rebuild the five-mile stretch of road between the Ashley Heath roundabout and the Blackwater junction.

Further road closures are scheduled over the next few days as overnight work is carried out. On Saturday there is due to be a northbound closure from 8pm to 6am and on Tuesday a southbound closure, also between 8pm and 6am. Sunday and Monday will see no overnight closures due to work being carried out by Bournemouth Water on Ringwood Road.

The council added work in the central reservation area of the A338 would usually be undertaken with a lane two closure, but with lane one closures already in place, a full road closure will be in force.

Work to rearrange the traffic management on the southbound carriageway, from a lane one to a lane two closure, would take additional nights of traffic restrictions.

On Thursday, the council attempted to address motorists’ concerns about traffic management and comments that nobody was at work on the site yet.

A message on the council’s website stated during the first two weeks of the rebuild, there were areas of the site not visible where investigative and preparation work is being carried out.

And a meeting held yesterday between Dorset County Council officials, highway authorities, emergency services and Bournemouth Hospital resulted in new signs informing drivers the turn-off for the Royal Bournemouth, from Castle Lane East, is for hospital access only.