THE A49 north of Hereford is set to close overnight early next month for roadworks.

National Highways, which looks after trunk roads such as the A49 through Herefordshire, said the road would be closed for bridge repairs and survey works.

It said the A49 would be shut southbound between the A417 and the Bodenham road at Dinmore between 9pm on February 3 and 6am the following day.

The layby south of the junction with the Bodenham road would also be closed as part of the works, a public notice said.

OTHER NEWS:

But National Highways said police cars, fire engines, ambulances and gritting lorries would still be able to use the road.

It comes days after National Highways said it had awarded a £328 million contract to Colas to help maintain the road network in the West Midlands.

The eight-year contract, which is set to start on July 1, will see Colas carrying out routine maintenance, repairing defects, responding to emergency incidents and providing severe weather services on some of the region’s busiest routes.

Regional operations director for the Midlands Andrew Jinks said: “Our roads are among the safest in the world and partnerships like this help to maintain the high standards that we set ourselves and our partners.

"By working more closely with our supply chain partners on routine maintenance, repairs and incident response, we’re able to work more effectively, identifying innovative ways of working and provide the best possible quality of service to road users.

“We’re delighted that Colas has been awarded this contract and look forward to working with them, driving improvement and strengthening our regional expertise.”

OTHER NEWS:

The area Colas will be maintaining covers around 2,300 miles of motorway and trunk roads.

Carl Fergusson, chief executive of Colas Ltd, said: “Everyone at Colas is delighted that we are continuing to build on our successful relationship with National Highways with this new, significant, contract award.

"We are looking forward to establishing a highly effective collaborative working relationship in area nine with National Highways and our supply chain partners as part of the contract, and in working towards the common goal of reducing carbon emissions to achieve net zero.”