Rawtenstall project update

Work replacing a number of electricity cables in Rawtenstall has moved onto the next  phase.

As the first phase nears completion, engineers from Electricity North West are continuing to progress up Bacup Road, towards Lower Cloughfold.

The region’s power network operator is currently spending £1m to upgrade nine underground 11,000-volt electricity cables.

The replacement cables will benefit 6,000 customers in the town, who have previously experienced power cuts over the past two years caused by the ageing cables which were installed in the 1950s.

To allow work to continue, a three-way traffic light system has been installed alongside the current one way system.

Michael Dawes, area manager for Electricity North West, said: “We expect the three way traffic light system to be in place for no more than two weeks.

“We learnt of a number of issues with the new traffic light system and we’ve worked extremely hard to rectify those problems. At peak times, the traffic lights will be operated manually by teams constantly monitoring the traffic flow to ease journey times through the area.

“It is our aim to keep disruption to a bare minimum and we thank the residents for their understanding and co-operation.”

As Electricity North West progresses up Bacup Road, the three-way traffic light system, along with the one system will be removed and a two-way traffic light system will be in place until near completion of the project.