MOTORISTS on the A64 near Copmanthorpe are heading for more disruption - as engineers prepare to install a footbridge.

The exit slip road from the eastbound carriageway into Tadcaster Road is set to be closed to traffic on a number of nights, starting at 9pm on Tuesday March 12.

Signs will divert traffic onto alternative routes into York.

The temporary closures come as A64 traffic continues to be disrupted by a contraflow on the dual carriageway at nearby Top Lane, caused by the construction of an underpass for traffic from Copmanthorpe.

The congestion has been particularly severe during the morning and evening rush hours.

But the new closures are planned for later in the evening, when traffic is much lighter, says the Highways Agency.

The traffic bans are needed to allow for the installation of a new footbridge over the East Coast Main Railway line, said a spokeswoman.

She said pedestrians could currently walk alongside a two-lane road over the line.

But under a new road system being built to serve the Copmanthorpe underpass, involving two-way traffic, there would not be room for them and a separate footbridge was needed instead.

She said cars would first be banned from the slip road between 9pm and 7am on March 12, and possibly on subsequent nights, as preparatory work got under way.

The slip road would be closed again on Saturday April, 6 from 6pm to 11am the next day, as the bridge was lowered into place by crane.

More works and closure might also be needed on subsequent weekends until the project is completed.

Updated: 09:10 Wednesday, February 27, 2002