A mile-long closure of a Bolton road for resurfacing will ‘inevitably cause chaos’ but is ‘desperately needed’, a local councillor has said.

Darwen Road and Turton Road are set to be closed in phases from later this month as part of resurfacing works.

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The works will see Darwen Road closed for a mile between Brierholme Avenue and Guild Street, and Turton Road closed for half-a-mile between Shady Lane and Oaks Avenue as resurfacing is carried out from Monday, July 22.

Bromley Cross councillor Amy Cowen said: “There is no question that this work is desperately needed – the road surface is shockingly bad, and it does need to be resurfaced.

“Residents are very aware of that because we’ve had a high number of complaints over the last month about the state of the road, so the work has to be done.

“It will inevitably cause chaos whilst it is going on. We’ll do everything we can as local councillors to be conduits of information to residents to keep people informed as to things like bus routes and different phases of work.”

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The roads are used by bus services including the 533 and 541, as well as the Blackburn TA1 service – as well as providing the main link between Bromley Cross and surrounding neighbourhoods, and the rail network.

Official diversion routes see road users travelling on Blackburn Road through Astley Bridge and on to Crompton Way in order to avoid the disruption.

A journey between the furthest points of the roads would normally take just five minutes by car to travel a distance of two miles.

The diversion increases the distance by more than a mile, adding two minutes of journey time for those driving.

One local resident called the plans a ‘disgrace’, raising concerns people would not be able to get out of their homes.

She added: “Turton Road has been resurfaced before but never closed as it was one side at a time. The usual health and safety has been given as the reason for total road closure.

“This cannot be allowed to happen again on such a scale affecting hundreds of residents and their lives.”

Closures will only be in force 'off-peak', council says

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “The closures on Darwen Road and Turton Road are to enable the roads to be resurfaced.

“The works are being carried out during the school holidays when there is generally less traffic on the roads. The closures will be in force off-peak, from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

“Turton Road will not be closed at the same time as Darwen Road and vice versa.

“During the closures, access will be permitted to properties where possible. However, there may be times when people will need to wait until the resurfacing process has reached a suitable point near a particular property. The contractor will keep the residents updated as to when they will be in their vicinity as they progress the works.

“We expect bin collections to be carried out before the 9.30am closure is implemented. If collections are later in the day, the contactor will make every effort to accommodate waste vehicles.

“There are sections of Turton Road and Darwen Road which are simply not wide enough to allow traffic to pass the resurfacing works safely with regards the needs of both the road users and the contractor, which is why the closures are necessary.

“We apologise for the inconvenience these essential works will cause but there is no alternative way to carry them out.”

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