Delays in pipeline as Lawrence Street to close for a fortnight

Lawrence Street will be completely closed for a fortnight at its junction with Barbican Road and Foss Islands Road, with traffic being diverted along James Street to Layerthorpe.

Hull Road councillor Roger Pierce warned it was inevitable that the roadworks would push the heavy congestion usually found in Lawrence Street to other parts of the city.

The project is just the latest gas main repair scheme to hit drivers in York, after Gillygate was closed earlier this year.

Northern Gas Networks, which is carrying out the Lawrence Street work to replace old Victorian metal pipes with safer plastic ones, has revealed that further work is planned which will close more roads later this year – although it refused to say where.

“We will invest around £2.8 million in the York area this financial year,” said a spokeswoman. “The majority of these gas mains upgrade jobs will be carried out in suburban, residential areas and are not expected to cause any disruption. Where traffic management is required, we will work with York City Council to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum.”

She said night-time working had been avoided in Lawrence Street because it was a residential area. The work had deliberately been scheduled to avoid the summer holidays because York was a tourist destination. Barbican Road will remain closed to all traffic between Wellington Street and Paragon Street until the work is scheduled to finish, on July 26.

The work will partially coincide with closures of parts of Haxby Road and Haley’s Terrace for resurfacing. Between June 1 and 11, Haxby Road will be closed from Greenfields to the roundabout at Haley’s Terrace and between June 14 and 18, Haley’s Terrace will be closed to traffic from Haxby Road. Temporary traffic lights will be installed at the roundabout at Haley’s Terrace between June 21 and 25 when Haley’s Terrace will be closed to traffic from Huntington Road and Fossway.