The closure of a section of the main A5 New Castletown Road could continue for up to another week as continuing bad weather hampers roadworks.

Traffic has been diverted along the access road to the Energy form Waste plant while the main road is closed between the Fort North roundabout and the bottom of Richmond Hill.

This had led to large tailbacks building up from the Kewaigue Hill junction during the weekday morning rush hour.

Highway chiefs say the resurfacing works on this section of road are progressing well but the scope of the original scheme had been expanded as Manx Utilities identified the chance to replace 750m of water main that runs under the road and services properties in that area.

The new main replaces a 70-year-old water main that has recently seen an increase in bursts and was considered to be vulnerable to further bursts if disturbed by the road resurfacing.

Groundworks contractor Paul Carey & Sons Ltd has been working extended hours to help the Manx Utilities team complete the water mains replacement within the timeframe of the original resurfacing scheme.

Attention has then focused on resurfacing work on the hill.

The closure order of this section of the A5, which began on September 11, was due to end no later than this Friday (October 27).

Laying asphalt and undertaking line painting are both weather dependent which could delay works – and there is the possibility of more poor weather.

The Department of Infrastructure has therefore made a request to extend the current traffic order and bypass arrangements for an extra week – up to and including Sunday, November 5. This is on the condition that the order will be lifted as soon as work is completed, which is expected to be before that date.

The extra time will allow for the possibility of further disruption due to poor weather conditions.

At the weekend, work continued on the Fort North (Spring Valley) roundabout with planning out on Saturday and resurfacing due to take place on Sunday.

To facilitate this the roundabout was due to close to all traffic from about 6am on Saturday morning and remain closed until no later than 6pm on Sunday.

Resurfacing of the Spring Valley roundabout had to be done at the weekend due to the impact its closure would have on weekday commuter and commercial traffic. Work is being done in daylight hours to ensure best results.

Once the work on the hill and roundabout is complete there will be a further section of resurfacing by the junction with the Farmers’ Combine estate.

But this work will be carried out with the road open and two way traffic maintained with traffic controls.