THERE are fears of major disruption on the A78 with news that the main road junction in Inverkip will be closed for two weeks.
The east junction at Kip Park, which has been an accident blackspot, will be shut off from Monday, August 4 to Monday, August 18 for work on the latest stage of the Glasgow City Region City Deal project on the trunk road.
A traffic light system is set to be installed at the junction.
But there are already concerns at the disruption the closure will cause.
One local resident said: "We have had constant ongoing traffic delays and congestions in recent months.
"It is doubling the time taken for drivers to get along the A78. We are also concerned about the state of the road with cars expected to drive on uneven surfaces full of potholes.
"It has been horrendous at times."
But the authorities, including Inverclyde Council, say they have worked out a schedule to try to minimise the delay.
A council spokesperson said: "These upgrades have been programmed during the summer holidays when the area is traditionally quieter to minimise disruption."
The work will involve installing traffic signal infrastructure, traffic islands and drainage across the junction.
During the closure, the six bus stops along Main Street will be closed, but two temporary stops will be installed on the A78.
In addition to regular bus services into Inverkip village, the 901 and 906 bus services will now be included for the duration of the closure.
For eastbound passengers, the temporary bus stop will be adjacent to the Harbourside junction with access being via the footbridge over the A78.
The westbound temporary bus stop will be located at the west junction of Main Street on the A78.
Rearrangement of traffic management will start at 9pm on Monday, August 4 and will involve narrow lanes being changed from eastbound to westbound on the A78.
During the closure, all access to and from the A78 will be via the Main Street west junction.
There will also be some parking restrictions along Main Street to improve the flow of traffic.
The Inverkip project is the last of three Glasgow City Region Deal schemes being delivered by Inverclyde Council with the help of external funding worth £3.6 million from the UK and Scottish governments.
The local authority is contributing a total of £570,000.
As part of the works in Inverkip, signalised junctions are to be installed at Main Street and Kip Marina to address the long-running road safety issues on the A78.
A T-junction will also be created at Brueacre to open up access to the former Inverkip Power Station site, which is earmarked for 650 new homes.
It is hoped the redevelopment of the site could potentially deliver 400 construction jobs and 120 roles in follow-on development.
Work on the Inverkip leg of the city deal started in March this year and is expected to continue until November.
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