Dundee’s busiest streets are to be hit with a raft of roadworks over the coming weeks.
Drivers have been warned to expect disruption with various works taking place on the Kingsway, Riverside Drive and at the Swallow roundabout.
The first will take place on the Kingsway and Kingsway East for patching, road marking, sign repair and gully works.
The work will start on Wednesday at 7.30pm running till 6.30am the following day, with eastbound and westbound closures coming into effect near the Clepington Road on-slip, the Coupar Angus Road off-slip and west of the Mid Craigie roundabout.
Diversions will be in place.
From 7.30pm on Thursday until 6am on Friday, there will be lane closures on the Swallow roundabout, as well as on its approaches, for ground investigation works.
Then, next Monday, the outside lanes on either side of Riverside Drive, for 200 metres east from the Tesco roundabout, will be closed for six weeks due to drainage works.
Dundee taxi driver union chief Stuart Elder says he’s pleased to see that most of the works are being carried out at night.
He said: “Carrying out the roadworks at night is probably one of the most sensible things traffic management can do.
“As anyone knows who drives often, the roads after 7pm are very quiet and virtually empty and that is the prime time to get the works done, especially in commercial and industrial areas where there is no built-up housing.
“The work going on at Swallow roundabout will probably not have much of an effect on many drivers as it’s more of a passage through Dundee. If I’m honest that is probably the best thing they can do.
“It might cost the council or traffic bodies a premium to get people out working at night, but that is surely a price worth paying if you can guarantee steady traffic flow during the daylight hours.”
Reacting to the six weeks of works on Riverside Drive, the president of the WAV taxi branch of GMB, Stuart Elder, said there would be more danger of traffic coming to a bottleneck, and road maintenance authorities should look into carrying the works out at night.
“They really should take the example from the overnight works being carried out on the Kingsway and at the Swallow roundabout,” added Mr Elder.
Will Dawson, convener of Dundee City Council’s city development committee, said: “I understand the frustration of motorists but this is a huge undertaking that I’m sure everyone understands will have potentially enormous benefits for the city and its economy.”