An unplanned night-time closure of Llanthony Road in Gloucester will take place next week to tackle emergency road repairs.

Montel Civil Engineering (MCE) said it has been forced to take the measure which will see the busy south-west bypass route for the city closed from 8pm on Monday April 17 until 5am the following morning (April 18).

Emergency surface repairs are being blamed for the closure, with work anticipated to be complete for the 5am reopening.

In detail, the affected stretch begins at the Castlemeads Bridge junction and extends to St Ann Way.

An MCE spokesman said: "Access to Hemmingsdale Road, Sudmeadow Road and all businesses within this length of the closure will be maintained at the northern end of the work area (near the College) and we will have a traffic management operative available at all times to enable safe access."

A diversion route with signs will be put in place during the work.

This work comes in addition to the ongoing Gloucester South West Bypass Llanthony Road Widening Scheme, a £11.5m project which has been funded from multiple sources. The work aims to improve the final unwidened section of the A430 which has been a bottleneck between Castlemeads Bridge and St Ann Way.

Central government awarded £2m through the Gloucestershire GFirst LEP Growth Deal, while the county council also received £12.8m from the Levelling Up Fund both for this scheme and the 26-mile Gloucestershire Cycle Spine which will pass through the city centre. 

A further £125,000 was also sourced for the project as a section 106 contribution for development work at Hunts Grove.

MCE is engaged as the main contractor for the overall project, which is due for completion by late summer.