Gas main replacement work on Ramsgate Road continues to cause traffic woe with even more closures

Road closures

Gas main replacement works on Ramsgate Road in Margate are likely to continue until at least the end of the month.

SGN is carrying out works to upgrade the network as part of a 30-year programme replacing old metal pipes with new plastic pipe.

Work began on January 16 and was scheduled to be completed by March 10 but further works are now taking place until at least March 31 while another phase of gas mains replacement has also been started by the Star Lane roundabout.

Works began on January 16  from outside the QEQM Hospital entrance and the junction of Salmestone Road meaning the closure of the northbound carriageway of A254 Ramsgate Road between these locations and a signed diversion route via A256 Westwood Road

A closure was also  put in place at Nash Court Road at its junction with A254 Ramsgate Road.

Work scheduled from March 13 between property 321A Ramsgate Road and the Star Lane roundabout has also started with the closure of Ramsgate Road to southbound motorists near to its junction with Sloe Lane for safety. There is also no access to Star Lane from this roundabout.

Cllr Barry Lewis

County Councillor Barry Lewis says he has been informed engineering problems have caused a delay to the schedule.

He said: “This is having a disastrous effect on traffic all around Thanet. I have expressed, on behalf of the residents in the Salmestone/Ramsgate Road area, my frustration at the massive disruption to businesses and residents.

“I have asked to be updated. The public up until this point have not been informed about the delays. The whole situation is farcical and  apparently they do not even know how long the delays will be for. The situation has been made even worse by the start of more roadworks by Sloe Lane which is multiplying the traffic problems.”

Cllr Lewis said further traffic lights installed on Ramsgate Road by Southern Water ahead of planned utility works by the company will now be removed after he raised it with the county council. Those works have been postponed.

In an information leaflet SGN says: “We understand people can get frustrated by roadworks. However, the new plastic pipe has a minimum lifespan of 80 years. This means that when the work is complete, Margate residents and businesses will continue to enjoy the benefits of a safe and reliable gas supply for many years to come.”

SGN has been asked for further details.

27 Comments

  1. Not wishing to be sarcastic.
    There are 24 hours in a day. Could not a shift pattern be introduced. ?
    Travel in Europe and you will see works such as this being carried out during the night and day,
    Rail track maintenance is carried out at night and at weekends with just the odd closure of sections of track.
    The disruption to the public is avoidable. Should it always come down to profits for the shareholders. ?

    • “The disruption to the public is avoidable.”

      There’d be more disruption if people couldn’t sleep thanks to their machinery between 6pm-8am…

  2. This is getting silly now ,we had this last September and that went on longer then it should have and now we have the same problem, just get a larger team working on this to problem and finish it once and for all ,we in Thanet have had enough.

  3. Funny how the so called workers go home at 5 pm when it’s still light and safe to carry on working!! Every time you drive past there most of them are sitting around doing nothing! Hopefully the company are now being fined for late work

  4. Shouldn’t the company he fined for over running the finish date ,a day or two ok ,but two and a half weeks is wrong, and when does the work from wx roundabout to St Peter’s roundabout start,signs were up straight after Christmas,that they would be finished by mid march,signs are still up if you look hard enough about those dates

  5. I have just come through temporary lights near star Lane. This has caused a complete gridlock along the ramsgate road and through Victoria traffic light. Finish one set of works before starting the other!
    The road should not be allowed to be closed completely in either direction, this is disgusting, temporary lights should be used like the first set of works in October. This has and is continuing to isolate alot of elderly and vulnerable people that cannot get a straight route from wwx down the Ramsgate Road.

    • Temporary lights near star lane.need to be moved ,along with cones.antill work commences.trffic backed to hospital.20 minutes from one end to other end.this has to stop.

  6. My option is the gas contracting company are doing these significant works for all of our safety and ongoing fraud_
    Maybe cllr Lewis has information that would assist the gas contractor in what is below the road surface.

    Why would southern water want to do significant upgrades when mentioned cllr take’s to social media. were doomed

  7. Thank goodness Councillor Lewis was on the ball on this one. More lights and delays were needed like a hole in the head. Guess who the culprits were again? Yup, got it in one – Southern Water strikes again! The Mr Bean of the privatised industries!

  8. If Ramsgate Road is closed north from the hospital, and south from the hospital, how on earth is anyone able to get away from it? A map of diversions would be helpful for those of us not familiar with the area.

  9. I am sure I read before these works started. That they would be working extended hours Monday to Friday, and working Weekends. If the hours they are working now are extended now. I would love to see their normal hours. The first three weeks they were gone by 3pm most days. Some days no one on site till 10am.

  10. Do you want safe gas pipes under the streets?
    Or would you rather wait to the point when the pipes fail, leak, and then cause a huge explosion, possibly right outside the hospital?

  11. You almost have to laugh, on the one hand we’re told that gas is a fuel of the past and we won’t have it in say 30 years ( no new boilers from 2035 and say those installed at last knockings last 15 years). Yet we’re replacing a system that’s been in place lord knows how long , generally without issue. With a system that will have an 80 year plus lifespan. Seems to be a bit of a gap in the logic or there will be gas for far longer than we’re led to believe ( before anyone says, hydrogen is very unlikely to be the replacement)
    In response to the safety aspect, gas explosions don’t seem to happen in the network they seemingly are a problem within the domestic setting.

    • Probably because the mains are properly maintained, whereas installations in private properties they sometimes aren’t.
      I saw the aftermath of a gas explosion in Great Peter St in London. The effect was as if a back hoe excavator had dug a trench along about 100 yards of street.

  12. No surprise at all. I’ve regularly seen no more than three or four people working. True, once, there were six. One in digger, another on a dumper, one in a hole, two looking in the hole, and the sixth in a van reading their newspaper.

    KCC, the council responsible for highways, ought to be far more vigilant in monitoring roadworks. With Thanet’s fragile infrastructure, any works for any length time have a dire effect. But KCC don’t and we all suffer.

  13. The essential upgrades to gas and water pipes seem to take forever. Very often no work is occurring at all and when it is there seems to be very few workers there. Traffic chaos most days. The narrow Nash Road is jammed most times as the lights change after 90 seconds . Why not have Traffic Police or wardens helping clear those horrific jams . There appears to be no road widening in Nash Road where 100s of houses are being built. Surely the builders should pay for the essential road improvements when they were granted planning consent ??? TDC must sort this mess out immediately

    • “Why not have Traffic Police or wardens helping clear those horrific jams”

      Because Thanet has one (maybe two) traffic wardens who work 9-5.

      “There appears to be no road widening in Nash Road where 100s of houses are being built.”

      The road has infact been narrowed. Turning the corner into a dangerous part of road, going from a NSL to 30 on a blind bend.

      • Your correct ,the road does narrow ,I had some scary times on that bend ,won’t belong before there is a severe crash ,but does KCC care not a bit,how about the councillor for that area asking for it to be widened,doubt it because,he/she doesn’t live on the road

  14. They have put the cones and signs there like 6weeks ago if not longer and for the weeks ahead not even 1 person working. Every day passing by to do a school run and hardly saw any1. Recently they have started the work but like you guys say ‘ not hard enough ‘.
    It’s a massive chaos all around. Hard to park. You want to go to Garlinge way and feels like you have to go around whole Thanet to actually get to Garlinge. That’s just an example. How they finish the job fast. And if they do,the will start somewhere else and cause the traffic again. Look at Germany working over night and fast. Thus country don’t stand a chance lol

  15. is nothing ever posted about the continual disruption to traffic and danger to pedestrians, particularly shildren . at the Broadstairs Road/ Fairfield Road junction in Broadstairs, with holes being dug and no organisation owning responsibility for this? No information as to whn this will stop either

Comments are closed.