Amey is undertaking essential drainage work on vulnerable flood sites on the A78 between Seamill and the Waterside Hotel. We regret that this work has been extended and is now scheduled to complete by Friday 3rd May 2024.

Unfortunately, the presence of historic utility services has meant a revision of the programme to allow for excavations below these services, and this has been compounded by challenging ground conditions, including a high water table and sand that have hampered the completion of the work. These issues were only able to be identified once the carriageway surface was exposed, and this is why our programme has had to be revisited and extended.

Work is continuing with installation of a new carrier pipe on the northbound carriageway, including the installation of three new manhole chambers and connections being made to existing gullies on both sides of the road. The assets have been re-designed to avoid crossing back over the cluster of utilities in the verge of the main pipeline and gully connections. The northbound pipeline has also been upgraded to accommodate the increased flows from the southbound gullies rather than install a second pipeline and associated manhole chambers in the southbound carriageway to address these.

Unfortunately, there can be no guarantees that further issues will not be identified once the entire pipeline route has been excavated, but at present we seem to have uncovered the potential obstacles.

Traffic monitoring technology is in operation, with start and end data collection points from Ardrossan (Montfode Roundabout) to West Kilbride (B7048 crossroads). This data is reviewed over 15-minute intervals, to ensure no specific event has led to longer delays, but has not revealed any abnormalities to date. However, this data continues to be gathered and any improvements to traffic flows that are identified will be implemented.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience to road users and residents, but it is important the new drainage system operates as intended to ensure the continued safety and reliability of the trunk road at this location. We will continue to provide updates via this website and our free Roadwork Alerts service, and we thank residents and road users for their continued patience and understanding while this essential work is completed.