Town's major roads resurfacing programme restarts

Fifteen sections of a Berkshire town's major roads will be resurfaced over the next six weeks, as part of an £8m local authority scheme.

The work will begin in Northumberland Avenue on Tuesday and conclude in Berkeley Avenue on 5 July, with 13 other road sections resurfaced in between, said Reading Borough Council.

The authority said it would take the number of major road sections improved so far this year to 30, after 15 other stretches were resurfaced in a previous phase of the programme in March and April.

The road improvement scheme also covers smaller residential roads, 100 of which were surfaced between February and April.

Road closures and a temporary "no waiting at any time traffic order" will be in place to prevent parking on the roads while the work is carried out, said the council.

Residents and businesses directly affected will get advance notice, alerting them to the work, along with on-street closure notices and letters to residents, it said, adding that bus diversions will also be put in place.

Reading Borough Council said its commitment to improving highways had already produced results, including a 39% reduction in the number of pothole reports from the public and improvements to over 800 roads since 2019.

Karen Rowland, the council's lead for environmental services and community safety, said she hoped residents "are as pleased as we are to see the momentum continuing with our road improvements in Reading".

She said: "We recognise that, at times, there are frustrations with road closures but we ask everyone to bear with us as we do our best to get these improvements made as quickly and efficiently as possible."

The full schedule of the works can be found on the council's website.

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