HIGHWAYS bosses have moved to assure motorists that the major disruption on the A338 Spur Road will come to an end in June.

Work to increase capacity on the dual carriageway in and out of Bournemouth is progressing on schedule, according to Bournemouth Borough Council’s head of highways and transportation Gary Powell.

The project is currently focused on extending the on slip road on the southbound carriageway from Blackwater heading towards Cooper Dean.

Engineers will move on to extending the northbound off slip road at Blackwater and increasing its capacity before the completion in June. Focus will then turn to the Blackwater West junction itself and a realigned on slip road, which is the latest part of the BIG programme.

“We are currently working to increase capacity on the A338 and on track to be finished with this work by June,” said Mr Powell.

“After that point we will not be carrying out any further work on the A338.”

In June, engineers will begin the scheme to increase the capacity of the junction on the Hurn side of the B3073 Christchurch Road, which provides access to and from the northbound A338 carriageway. This will run until Spring 2020, however Mr Powell said the majority of this scheme involved work off the existing highway.

The scheme will, to an extent, mirror last year’s work carried out at Blackwater East.

Once complete, the realigned on slip road to the A338 northbound will be created. Additional lanes will also be delivered on Christchurch Road in both directions with the aim of improving traffic flow.

Mr Powell said there would be localised disruption during some phases of the work but this would not compare with the current issues facing motorists on the A338 on a daily basis.

“The majority of the work at Blackwater West will be offline,” said Mr Powell. “There will be a need for temporary traffic lights in place but we have invested in sophisticated signals which replicate the current lights. There is an additional cost but it means vehicles will flow more efficiently.

“The work will cause some disruption but it will be kept to an absolute minimum. We are putting all measures in place to minimise disruption.”

Motorists delayed by two incidents yesterday morning

Two separate incidents on the A338 northbound near Blackwater caused long delays yesterday.

One person was taken to hospital following a five-vehicle crash on the A338 Spur Road at around 7am. It involved a silver Ford Focus, a black Ford Focus, a red Ford Fiesta, a white Citroen van and a white Vauxhall van.

Police officers were called to the scene at 7.01am, with reports of one male and one female with minor injuries.

South Western Ambulance Service said one person was taken to hospital for further treatment.

There were queues back to the Springbourne Roundabout.

Later in the morning, at around 11.44am, one lane was closed after a vehicle overturned. The road fully re-opened at 2.05pm with no reports of any serious injuries.