A rolling programme of road repairs is to get underway in Renfrewshire.

The work will involve rebuilding the speed ramps which lead to the block work areas of the town centre.

Four sites have been selected for the scheme and the upgrade work will take around two weeks, at each site, to complete.

Work is expected to begin on 8 July and finish on 15 September.

The block work areas were installed as part of the council's £3.9m regeneration programme, which is designed to manage traffic volume throughout the area and create an attractive, pedestrian friendly environment. Due to the volume and impact of traffic, the council has said the faces of the ramps have crumbled, a problem that stemmed from the way they were initially constructed.

The company responsible for the work has since gone into liquidation.

Councillor Eddie Devine, Convener of Renfrewshire Council's Environment Policy Board, said: "It's very disappointing that this work is needed so soon after the ramps were installed. We share the inevitable frustration that local people will feel in terms of having the streets of Renfrew dug up again.


"The construction of these ramps simply wasn't satisfactory. We would be taking legal action to recover the costs of these repairs if the company which installed them was still in business.

"These are vital repairs. We will do everything we can to keep local people and road users informed about when the work is happening and the traffic diversions that will be put in place. We will also do our best to complete the repairs as quickly as possible and keep disruption to an absolute minimum but some congestion is inevitable.

"A key part of the process is allowing the concrete foundations and the grout around the block work to set properly. The replacement work itself will only take a few days but traffic can't be allowed to use the ramp for up to a week after it is completed so that the concrete and grout can reach their full strength.

"The job has to be done properly so that it won't have to be done again in the future."

The timeline for the repairs is:

• Canal Street (ramp facing east of the Town Hall, 8 July – 21 July) - Canal Street will be closed east of the Town Hall at the Canal St/High St/Hairst St junction



• Hairst Street (ramp facing west of the Town Hall, 22 July – 3 August) - Hairst St will be closed just west of the Town Hall at the Hairst St/High St/Canal St junction



• High Street (ramp face heading away from the Town Hall at Renfrew Old Parish Church, 12 August – 1 September) - Closure will be in one direction only, heading away from the Town Hall



• High Street (both ramp faces heading towards the Town Hall at Renfrew Old Parish Church, 2 September – 15 September) - Closure will be in one direction only, heading towards the Town Hall.

The repair programme is part of Renfrewshire Council's largest ever investment in road maintenance and will see £5.7m being spent during 2013/14. Almost half of the funds is being spent on carriageway resurfacing at up to 60 locations, totalling around 15km of new road surface.

(JP)