On Monday, July 24 work is expected to move to the western side of Market Street which means parking will change, speed limits will be put in place but two-way traffic will continue.

Bypass project engineer David Buckley said that civil works were well ahead of schedule and he wanted to take advantage of the current weather conditions in case there were delays later in the project due to rain or for technical reasons.

He explained that work in Market Street would not extend as far as the centre line at this stage, allowing two-way traffic to flow, albeit in reduced lane widths. For this reason a speed limit of 20km/hr will be imposed for the duration and no parking will be permitted alongside the Promenade arcade.

“We are taking the opportunity to get the work done. Pedestrians will have to use the pavement on the eastern side of Market Street and traffic controllers will be in place too,” Mr Buckley said.

Back in Monaro Street work is continuing on getting the inground services in place; this includes Telstra cables and conduit, stormwater pipes and cables and conduits for power and signals for the traffic lights.

In rerouting and replacing the stormwater pipes, a water main was found to be in the way and has had to be placed at a lower depth underground to allow the stormwater pipes to be laid at a specific gradient.

“Our main challenge at this point has been the stormwater pipes as the removal of stormwater is gravity dependant. Too steep a gradient and the pipe will be too low at the exit point but too little gradient will mean water and sediment could build up in the bottom of the pipe,” Mr Buckley said.

On Wednesday, July 19 work started on building the base up at the point where the new road joins the existing one in Monaro Street.