Mountain road to shut tonight

To allow DoI workers to complete work

The Mountain Road will shut this evening from Ramsey Hairpin to the Bungalow to allow DoI contractors to complete work near the Waterworks.

It's after material fell onto the carriageway from the top of the roadside rock face on the Ramsey side of the Ballure Waterworks over the Christmas holidays.

A roadside wall was built to catch any further loose material before it reached the carriageway.

The DoI says: "As part of these works the Department’s contractor, Paul Carey & Sons Ltd, has been working for the past couple of weeks to remove the overburden (soil and loose stone) from above the rock face at this location. It is intended that this work will reduce the likelihood of a similar fall occurring in the future.

"It had been planned that all works to remove the overburden would be achieved without the need to close the road below the worksite. This has been reassessed in the light of local conditions and it has been decided that for the final part of this work, traffic and pedestrians will be prohibited from travelling on the road whilst works are completed on safety grounds."

The team undertaking the work will be working overnight using floodlights 'in order to mitigate the overall impact on the public'.

The emergency road closure will come into force at 6pm today (29 January) and will remain in place until 6am tomorrow (30 January).

Emergency access will be maintained throughout the period of the closure.