DRIVERS on the A72 at Galashiels will face major disruption from next week.

At 9am on Monday, work will begin in Island Street to upgrade the telecoms network, power connection and repair manhole covers.

And it will run until Thursday, December 12.

The works will see temporary three-way traffic lights installed at the Island Street/Hall Street junction.

They will operate 24/7 throughout the roadworks and will be manned from 7am to 7pm each day.

But this means the permanent traffic lights at the Bridge Place/High Street/Island Street junction to be switched off during the works.

In its place will be a give-way system, with traffic from Bridge Place and Island Street having priority over High Street road users.

Signage will be in place to advise road users of the temporary arrangements.

The pedestrian crossing will not be available at the junction during the works.

Buses will operate as normal, but the Peebles-bound bus stop on Island Street will be moved to the other side of the Hall Street junction.

Councillor Gordon Edgar, Scottish Borders Council’s executive member for roads and infrastructure, said: “If carried out as three separate projects, these works would have taken a month in total but have been co-ordinated by the council and the utility firms to ensure the disruption is minimised.

“We have made the decision to switch off the permanent lights at the Bridge Place/High Street/Island Street junction as leaving them on would have created significantly longer delays for road users.

“We would advise motorists to give themselves plenty of time during the works and we thank them in advance for their co-operation.”