January roadwork misery for main West Bromwich route

Wood Lane will be dug up to allow gas pipes to be replaced.

And, predictably, drivers have been warned delays are likely while the works take place.

National Grid is due to start work on Wood Lane, close to where it meets Greets Green Road, in the first week of the new year on January 4. It is expected to be January 29 before the job is completed.

Temporary traffic lights will be in place during the four-week period, expected to lead to tailbacks in the area.

Workers will be replacing dated iron piping under the road with more modern and durable plastic pipes. National Grid said the work was necessary to ensure 'safe and reliable gas supplies can continue to be provided to homes and businesses'.

The roadworks may prompt drivers heading towards the congested Price Street roundabout to take alternative routes.

The latest round of roadworks in the town comes as work at Kelvin Way it about to come to an end. One lane has been closed at the busy roundabout connecting the road to Brandon Way since December 16 to allow an oil pipeline to be fixed.

Months of misery has finally ended for commuters on the M6 after repair work on the link road off the M6 onto the M5 in West Bromwich, which was delayed twice and initially due to finish in June, led to lengthy tailbacks on a regular basis.

Ninder Johal, chairman of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, said he understood the frustrations of motorists and businesses due to roadworks but said the job was necessary.

He said: "The creaking infrastructure does need re-investing in and while disruption is not what anybody wants this work does need to be done and it's something we're going to have to deal with.

"I sit regularly on the motorway and other roads and what we need is co-ordinated infrastructure project that gets it all done at once."

National Grid has been carrying out similar jobs to replace worn iron piping under the road in the Black Country, though the Wood Lane work looks likely to lead to more congestion that others as it is on a main road heading into a town centre.

The organisation is gradually replacing all metal gas pipelines that run under the region's road network, with the plastic replacements expected to last much longer.