A busy north Dorset road will be closed from Monday while resurfacing work is carried out.
Zig Zag Hill on the B3081 will be closed 24 hours-a-day from Monday 20 May to Friday 31 May, with the C13 through Melbury Abbas also remaining closed.
Drivers will be signed onto the A350 as a diversion route.
Resurfacing the bendiest road in Dorset
Resurfacing Zig Zag Hill presents difficulties not only with the nature of the road itself but also with the depth of the reconstruction needed.
It’s due to these deep excavations that the only safe way to carry out the work is under a full 24-hour closure – it is just not safe to reopen the road between shifts.
The road is being resurfaced from White Pit Lane up to the top of the hill.
C13 works near an end
The C13 through Melbury Abbas has been closed since January for a new pull-in and vehicle activated signs (VAS) to be installed for HGVs travelling through the village, as part of Dorset Highways’ A350/C13 route management scheme.
Although the resurfacing through Melbury Abbas will be finished on Friday, 17 May, work is continuing to put the new signals into operation.
The decision has been made to keep the C13 closed while surfacing Zig Zag Hill to avoid diverted traffic using the C13, rather than the signed route on the A350.
The C13 and B3081 will reopen together at the end of May. Dorset Highways will then assess the surrounding minor roads for repairs caused by diverted traffic using them during the closures.
Anybody paying all our extra travel times and costs? This is ridiculous. Could at least have waited until C13 open.
Then the Compton Abbas Airfield Road and White pit need attention as the verges are unsafe with massive drops off the side.
We are trying to run a voluntary transport service and it is causing problems for local residents.
As an aside – the verges all need cutting around the junctions. You can only pull out into the road to see round the corners.
Sort it out please.
It is all well and good the supervising engineer saying that all traffic will be diverted on to the A350. Since the closure of the C13, those of us living beside the A350, in my case in Cann, have so much traffic to contend with that it sometimes takes an age to get out of the drive. Another point, he states that the A350 is an A road and has been designed, therefore, for HGVs but not I would suggest for the leviathans on today’s roads.
The problems with the C13 and the A350 have been going on for years.
The only real solution is to tackle the A350 which needs to be widened where possible, with bends cut off and villages bypassed.
This would be huge scheme and cost a lot of money but this road is in a ridiculous state for a major trunk road used by heavy freight vehicles from up country heading to and from Poole Port.
Look at all the works that have been done round Chippenham to ensure the faster flow of traffic just to see it all get snarled up when it reaches Dorset.
Hi Mrs White, you’re right. We know that the work on the C13, along with the advisory one-way system on the A350/C13 is a medium-term solution – getting these two roads to work together, as best as they can, to serve north Dorset communities.
We’re continuing to work with neighbouring authorities to push for a long-term solution for the north-south connectivity from the M4 to Poole Port to support Dorset’s economy, and provide more suitable infrastructure for this busy route.