Delays fear on A449 roadworks

Long delays are expected between Kidderminster and Stourbridge as work starts to build a road to a sewage works.

It is designed to stop tankers using Dunsley Road, Kinver, after residents complained.

They said they were often woken by vehicles.

Work is due to start to build a new right turn off the A449 on July 9 and could take nearly three months.

Construction between Whittington and Dunsley will see a 40 mile an hour speed restriction in place.

Jon McCarthy, spokesman for the Highways Agency, which manages the road, said the contractor for the work had not yet been selected so it was not known what time of day workers would be on site. Netting has been put on hedges nearby to stop birds nesting where they could be injured.

Heavy vehicles travel to and from the Roundhill Sewage Treatment Works at all hours of the day and night. Severn Trent, which runs the site in Gibbet Lane, agreed to build a support road linking the works route directly to the A449.

It means lorries and tankers will bypass roads past people's homes. Plans have been agreed by Staffordshire County Council after a number of appeals by Dudley Council, which manages neighbouring roads.