A MAJOR road engineering project which has been delaying West Somerset and Wellington area commuters driving into Taunton since last October will see an easing of restrictions from Monday (March 23).

The Silk Mills/Staplegrove Road roundabout on the A358 is being replaced with a traffic light-controlled junction as part of a 713-home new housing development and 2.5-acres business park.

The housing development is being carried out by Bloor Homes, which built Wellington’s Longforth Farm estate and is currently constructing road access to the town’s planned new railway station as part of a 161-homes development behind the Lidl supermarket.

The Silk Mills/Staplegrove Road roundabout project is not scheduled for completion until the spring of next year.

Somerset executive Cllr Mike Rigby said the current single lane in either direction will be lifted by Monday morning and two-lane access in either direction will then be restored.

Cllr Rigby said the roundabout was being resurfaced over the weekend, following which the existing barriers would be repositioned along the line of the original roundabout kerbs, reinstating the roundabout as it was previously configured.

He said: “The depth of excavation to reconfigure the existing roundabout inside the water-filled barriers has precluded them from being moved inward during out of hours periods.

“They were placed against the existing kerbs which have been progressively removed prior to resurfacing.

“I have asked Bloor Homes and their contractor CJL to urgently address reducing the impact of their current traffic management.

“The council’s streetworks team and ourselves have arranged an urgent meeting with the developers to discuss the short-term programme and to stress to them the importance of advanced communications.”

As well as removing the Silk Mills roundabout, the work includes drainage improvements and extending an existing culvert, a dedicated right-hand turn lane into the new housing development, and service diversions and utility works.