COMMUTERS are about to heave a sigh of relief because a major traffic improvement scheme in Boscombe is set to end.

For more than five months frustrated rush-hour motorists have had to contend with long delays on Christchurch Road sparked by various diversions.

Bournemouth council’s traffic improvement scheme was due to be completed by Friday, October 9, but other diversions in Boscombe will remain in place.

Wharncliffe Road remains closed until November 9 for the installation of a new gas main. And temporary traffic signals between Holdenhurst Road and Windham Road will remain until October 19 during the installation of a new gas main.

Temporary traffic signals will continue to operate at the junction of Hawkwood Road and Heathcote Road until October 16 during Bournemouth and West Hants Water’s installation of a new water main.

The misery is set to continue from October 19 until December 19 while the Ashley Road railway bridge is replaced by Network Rail, a scheme which has angered local traders concerned by the prolonged road closure in the run-up to Christmas.

A public meeting, hosted by Network Rail, was being held on Thursday, October 8, at King’s Park primary school hall in Ashley Road to discuss the closure.

It was expected shopkeepers, already suffering from road closures, would demand compensation for lost earnings during the two-month scheme.

On Tuesday, October 6, Fairmile Road, Christchurch, was also heavily congested with morning rush-hour traffic from the hospital to Blackwater junction.

And an accident at Slepe on the A35, involving an overturned Nissan Primera, at 9.14am caused some delays. Emergency services were called and a woman who had been in the Primera when it left the road was taken to hospital for a check-up.

Bournemouth council’s transportation manager James Duncan said: “The major road works along Christchurch Road are now virtually complete with the switching-on of the traffic lights due to take place at the end of this week (Friday, October 9).”

He added the gas works in Ashley Road, near the Holdenhurst Road junction, coupled with heavier-than- usual traffic caused by wet weather could have contributed to congestion on the Tuesday.