MOTORISTS are facing three months of nighttime closures on the A38 road from Wellington to Taunton in the New Year.

Contractors Heidelberg will be resurfacing sections of the road in a rolling programme between January 5 and the end of March.

Heidelberg recently carried out resurfacing of the Chelston to M5 link road and junction 26 roundabout which saw the road and motorway intersection closed for 12 weeks.

Now, the contractors have been commissioned by Somerset Council to tackle the deteriorating state of the A38, including ‘high traffic’ stretches entering Taunton.

A council spokesperson said: “The work is being done to improve the condition of the roads and the finished surface will look better and be safer to drive on with less risk of safety defects developing, such as potholes.

“All surfacing works will take place in the evenings or overnight.”

Somerset executive Cllr Richard Wilkins said: “This is an extensive programme of work to improve road surfaces in two important Somerset towns.

“As always, the team will do their best to get the work completed as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“Please do liaise with them if you are a resident and need to raise any issues around access.

“We are grateful to residents for their support and understanding while this resurfacing work is done.”

The work programme will start on Wellington Relief Road with the short section of carriageway between the Westpark 26 business park entrance and Chelston roundabout on January 5.

This is expected to take until February 3 and see the road closed nightly from 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm.

The contractors will focus on the A38 section from Chelston to Rumwell between February 25 and March 10 with overnight closures from 6.30 pm to 7 am, or until 11.30 pm in residential areas.

However, the West Buckland/Bradford on Tone crossroads will not be resurfaced because the council will shortly be looking at a safety scheme for the junction.

A recently laid section of road on Piccadilly Straight will also be left untouched where a right-turn for the Blackdown Garden Centre has been installed.

Contractors will also not resurface the A38 outside University Centre Somerset, in Taunton, which is due to be dug up the next few years by Wales and West Utilities and the council’s own traffic signal refurbishment team.

The Stonegallows to Wellington New Road roundabout is scheduled for March 4 to 23 with closures between 6.30 pm and 11.30 pm.

Moving further into Taunton, Fore Street, Corporation Street, and Castle Way are due to be worked on between January 21 and February 3 with 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm closures.

Some of the closures will overlap with junction 26 on the motorway being closed by National Highways for ongoing drainage improvements which will continue until February.

The council said it had liaised with National Highways to ensure the two projects were compatible, and should an incident close the motorway then the A38 would be opened as quickly as possible for diverted traffic.