OVERNIGHT closures will be put in place next week to allow the next stage of work on Darlington’s inner ring road to continue.

The first closure will be at Stonebridge between Crown Street and the Inner Ring Road on Wednesday (September 17).

This will be followed by two nights of lane closures on Freemans Place roundabout over the weekend of September 20, with the road still open to traffic but down to one lane.

Following this there will be a series of overnight closures from September 22 through to 27 on various sections of the Inner Ring Road and approach roads.

Darlington Borough Council says the closures are necessary to enable workers to undertake significant resurfacing of the carriageway.

On each occasion an appropriate diversion route will be signed for all traffic, however, this will change each night due to the contractor working on different sections of the Inner Ring Road.

Drivers are advised that although there will be diversions, it would be appropriate to seek an alternative route away from the Inner Ring Road.

All road closures will start at 9pm and be lifted by 6am the following morning.

It is hoped that the multi-million pound re-design of part of the Inner Ring Road will reduce congestion on one of the town’s busiest roads.

Elements of the overhaul include replacing the Stonebridge roundabout with a traffic light-controlled junction, creating a new lane to allow traffic turning left into Parkgate to by-pass the signals and re-positioning the pedestrian crossings.

The £3.7m cost is being funded by the Department for Transport as part of the Tees Valley Bus Improvement Project.

The works are expected to be finished by March next year and road users can keep informed of current and upcoming traffic management arrangements via the Council website darlington.gov.uk/publicalerts