A BUSY St Albans road will be closed overnight for at least 12 days next month to enable maintenance work to be carried out. Originally motorists were to be driven in convoy at 10mph while the work on the A405 between the roundabout at the M25 and the M10

A BUSY St Albans road will be closed overnight for at least 12 days next month to enable maintenance work to be carried out.

Originally motorists were to be driven in convoy at 10mph while the work on the A405 between the roundabout at the M25 and the M10 was carried out.

But Herts Highways has now decided to close the road entirely from 9pm until 5am from Monday week, November 3, until November 15 subject to the weather.

In January maintenance work will be carried out on the much-longer stretch of the A414 between the M10 roundabout and the junction with the A1M which could take up to seven weeks.

Information boards about the work will go up a week beforehand and although the majority of work will take place overnight, lane closures and convoy working with a 10mph limit imposed will be in place for some of the time.

In order to ensure the 10mph limit is adhered to, traffic is brought to a standstill immediately in advance of the roadworks using traffic lights. A convoy vehicle then leads a "train" of vehicles through the works at a maximum speed of 10mph.

A spokesperson for Herts Highways said: "The benefits of this system are that it physically prevents vehicles from exceeding the 10mph speed limit and hence helping to provide a safe working environment while at the same time allowing the road to remain open to the public.