ROADWORKS rumbling on at Bruce Street Bridges will be “substantially” completed by Christmas it has been announced.

But some work will continue into the New Year, although Swindon Borough Council has said that this will largely involve the areas surrounding the roads, rather than the carriageways themselves.

There will be some work to be carried out on the approach from Rodbourne Road - from Cheney Manor Road - early in the New Year which will complete the drainage and surfacing works. But remaining work will be off the highway and the roads will be fully open to traffic.

The remaining sections of the Great Western Way, the Bruce Street Bridges gyratory and Bruce Street access road will be resurfaced at the end of November – weather permitting.

Landscaping works will also be carried out alongside the roads while new signs and traffic signals will also be put in place.

In an update to residents from the Great Western Way Team a spokesman said: “The footpath areas have now been surfaced and are now fully open to the public. Landscaping has also commenced and is now taking shape.

“The majority of street lights have now been installed. The street lights that are being installed have LED lighting units, these emit a white light, are low energy and more directional and so are more effective at lighting the highway.

"They have approximately 1/10th of the lighting levels previously experienced, less upward and backward lighting, so is less intrusive when positioned outside residents' properties.

“Great Western Way has been resurfaced on the westbound and eastbound carriageway between North Star and the start of the Bruce Street Bridges junction.”

Councillor Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for sustainability and transport, said: “I think everyone agrees that Bruce Street Bridges has been a long hard slog due to the complex nature of the work and the large number of unknown utility pipes that were discovered which don't appear on any maps. However, motorists will see a significant difference soon.

“Great Western Way is now back to two lanes in both directions between Bruce Street Bridges and North Star, and the footpaths and landscaping outside of the shops has been completed.

"Over the next few weeks, the entire roundabout will be resurfaced, and when this is completed Bruce Street Bridges will look virtually finished and will be completely open to all traffic.

"This work is about improving our roads now before any more additional housing is built, which we know will be coming over the next 15 to 20 years.”