A Lake District road will close for four weeks for improvement work.
Just over four miles of the A592 between Brothers Water on the northern end and Hird Wood on the southern end of Kirkstone Pass will be closed to vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists from June 5 to June 30.
Contractors will move in to install new safety crash barriers. It is a 24-hour, seven days a week closure, between Brothers Water and the Kirkstone Inn, weather permitting.
The Kirkstone Inn will remain accessible throughout the closure via Windermere and Ambleside.
Sykeside Camping Park and Brotherswater Inn will remain accessible throughout the closures via Glenridding and businesses in Glenridding, Patterdale and Pooley Bridge will be open as usual and access to these will be via the Penrith end of the A592.
Traffic marshalls will be at either end of the closure and there will be a fully-signed diversion route in place throughout, which will be reviewed regularly, said Westmorland and Furness Council, which is leading the project.
Following the full road closure, temporary traffic signals will then be installed for two weeks starting on Monday July 3. This will also include night-time closures during these two weeks from 7pm to 6am.
Additional road closures will then take place on the following dates, weather permitting.
More information on road diversions will be available nearer the time of each closure:
- September 11 – for two weeks to carry out full width reconstruction on certain areas, which means excavating the full width of the carriageway.
- March 1 2024 – a three-week closure to finalise the resurfacing.
The latest work follows on from extensive drainage and associated works completed by contractor Metcalfe Plant Hire Ltd earlier this year.
This included 22 new drainage crossings, new culverts, drainage pipes, gullies and ‘catchpits’ to catch any scree washed off the fells. They have also created more than 200 metres of stone walling and installed new sign bases and three new laybys.
Councillor Peter Thornton, Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet member for highways and assets, said: “The work we are carrying out at Kirkstone Pass will not only improve the condition of the road but it will help to protect the road from the effects of flooding and adverse weather and increase the safety and resilience of the route, especially during winter, resulting in fewer enforced closures in the future.”
