TEMPORARY traffic lights are in place this week on the A466 between Chepstow and Tintern due to subsidence.

The lights, situated north of the former Livox Quarry entrance, will operate from Monday 9th October until the end of the month and will allow Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) to carry out safety works, ground investigations and bore-hole drilling.  The investigations will provide vital data so that the council can eventually stabilise the carriageway by realigning the road into the adjacent hillside.

The lights will be relatively close to another set near the Livox quarry entrance - a result of a rock fall - so to minimise disruption both sets of lights will be manually controlled during work hours until the council is confident they can be operated automatically. If issues arise the lights will be returned to manual operation until site investigation works are complete.

MCC’s cabinet member for county operations, Councillor Bryan Jones said: “Motorists may be frustrated by the temporary addition of another set of lights on the A466 but the geology and nature of the surrounding area requires us to ensure safety is paramount until we can arrive at a permanent solution for this stretch of the road.”

A further set of lights on the A466 close to the Wyndcliffe picnic site will continue to operate, again for safety reasons following a rock fall and difficult geological conditions.

Traffic lights at Wyndcliffe are likely to be in operation for the long term due to difficult geological conditions and ecological constraints. We hope to remove the lights at the entrance to the former Livox Quarry by the end of the year but this will depend on the outcome of further inspections following site clearance works.