A BUSY stretch of road on one of the main routes in and out of Tranent is to close for six weeks.

Tranent’s Church Street will be closed between High Street and the junction with Sanderson’s Wynd for six weeks from next Monday (January 27).

The closure is to allow a £420,000 upgrade of the gas network in the area.

A leaflet produced by SGN, which is behind the works, states: “For the duration of the six-week project, Church Street will be closed between its junctions with Sanderson’s Wynd and High Street.

“There will also be no access to Church Street from Sanderson’s Wynd or Winton Place.

“For the first two to three weeks of our work, we’ll also have three-way temporary traffic lights in place at the junction with Bridge Street, High Street and Winton Place.

“We will be manually controlling the lights at peak time to ease traffic congestion.

“Parking suspensions in surrounding streets will be in place on Bridge Street, Church Street, Winton Place and High Street.”

Councillor Colin McGinn, who represents the town on East Lothian Council, said that the roadworks would cause “upheaval” but the gas works were necessary.

He told the Courier: “I think it is going to cause disruption.

“It is one of those bits of work that, no matter when you do it, it is going to cause an inconvenience.”

Mr McGinn was also keen for the local authority to keep an eye on the works, particularly amid fears that surrounding streets, such as Coal Neuk, could be used as a rat run.

Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs) are being drawn up by East Lothian Council, with temporary changes made to Winton Place to allow access to the George Johnstone Centre.

Access to Sanderson’s Wynd will be available from Tranent Mains Road and Coalgate Road.

Any queries, contact SGN on 0131 469 1728.