DRIVERS are being warned of disruption on Weymouth’s Commercial Road next week as part of the project to remove the harbour rail lines.

Preparatory investigative works will be taking place during evenings and overnight, starting on Monday August 17 at the King Street end of Commercial Road and moving along the route towards Lower St Edmund Street.

The work is being timed to keep disruption to a minimum, Dorset Council said, and must be done this summer before funding for the project expires.

Stop and go boards will be in use from 9pm to 6am Monday to Fridays to allow highways teams to clear drains with a jet, before using a camera to inspect inside the drainage system for damage.

As reported, the railway track removal will start this October amid health and safety concerns following a series of accidents - although many residents have expressed dismay of the removal of the heritage lines.

A second week of work will take place in the area starting from August 24 when there will then be a week of ground penetrating radar work, which will see stop and go boards in place again between 9pm - 6am.

The council says this will help inform the design of the road reinstatement after the disused railway tracks are removed, carrying out necessary drainage repairs at the same time.

Cllr Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “It is routine for us to carry out drainage inspections before any resurfacing works and ensures that any damage is repaired before the new surface is laid.

“Water causes the most damage to road condition and we need to treat both the external ingress of water as well as repairing any internal drainage issues.

“The funding for this project is time limited so we cannot delay these investigation works until after the summer. We hope that by carrying them out overnight there should be minimal disruption.”

Drainage investigation work on Custom House Quay is planned for the autumn, with the track removal along this section of the route scheduled for early 2021.

Earlier this year, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Dorset Council was successful in its joint bid with Network Rail for funding to dismantle and remove the rails, which run along Commercial Road and Custom House Quay.

The disused tracks currently present an ongoing hazard to all road users – particularly cyclists and motorcyclists – and their removal will reduce the number of incidents along this busy route.