A wave of emergency works along with planned closures on Luton’s highway network has meant congestion for road users this week. Emergency road closures have been put in place across the town. Hucklesby Way was closed off after safety concerns about the station car park above. The council says this caused “major gridlock” in the town centre. Meanwhile, utility companies have closed Oakley Road after a sewer collapsed, Biscot Road junction at Cromwell Road due to electricity power supply failure and there are closures at Marsh and Limbury roads because of a gas leak. The council says it schedules improvement work “throughout the year to ensure the least possible amount of disruption to motorists at any one time” – but the short notice and emergency closures this week have “led to challenges on Luton's roads.” Cllr Javed Hussain portfolio holder responsible for highways, said: “We manage 480 kilometres of roads in Luton and this week has been a real challenge as a result of largely unexpected emergency works, which were out of our control. We fully appreciate this exceptional set of circumstances has led to a very frustrating few days for road users. I myself have been caught up in it. “Although much of this work is out of the council's control and these events have unfortunately all come at one time, we don’t wish to see any more delays to the travelling public than are absolute necessary.” Here are both the emergency and planned works across the town: Hucklesby Way – Work carried out by Network Rail. The council said: “This is an emergency road closure due to an issue with Network Rail’s car park where cladding fell onto the highway. Network’s surveyor is satisfied that the car parks’ panels are now secure and the council’s building control team has now sanctioned the opening of the road, and so the road closure is being lifted.” Oakley Road – Multi-way temporary traffic lights in place until March 8. Work carried out by Thames Water to fix a collapsed sewer. Biscot Road, junction of Cromwell Road – Emergency temporary traffic lights in place until March 1. These emergency works are being carried out by UK Power Networks due to electricity power supply failure. The work is due to be completed on Friday, March 1. Dunstable Road, junction of Conway Road – Emergency works were carried out by UK Power Networks, but the council says these are now complete. Marsh Road – Emergency traffic lights and road closure on Limbury Road. Cadent Gas is carrying out work after a gas leak. The council said: “It is anticipated that these works will be complete by this Sunday, March 3.” New Airport Way – Lane closure for critical safety works. The council’s team had attempted to complete this before the half term, but they “encountered live electricity and communication cables on site which contributed to the delays”. The section of works will be complete by Friday, March 1. Park Viaduct and Crawley Green Road – Lane closure to replace the parapet on Park Viaduct, as this was deemed unsafe after a survey. A lane closure is in place from Crawley Green Road going towards Church Street. The council says it is working with UK Power Networks “who are decommissioning power supply on the Power Court site”. The works are due to take place until the middle of April, “however the contractor is making good progress with the aim to complete before then”. Ramridge Road junction Turners Road – Temporary traffic lights are in place. The work by UK Power Networks is due to be done by Friday, March 1. Oxen Road – Road closure while UK Power Networks do planned electrical works, which are due to be done by March 7.
