Following significant progress made on a series of infrastructure works by project contractor BSG, Foyle Street in County L'Derry is set to reopen to motorists on Friday, May 23, five weeks ahead of schedule.

The works form the latest instalment of NI Water's £4.2m Foyle Street project, which got underway in August 2024 and involves the upgrade of the 100-year-old water and wastewater infrastructure between Shipquay Place and Water Street.

Over the last nine months, BSG has worked to install 400m of dedicated stormwater (rainwater) sewer and new foul sewer - to separate this section of the combined system - as well as 170m of new watermain. Over 50 connections to properties on Foyle Street were also undertaken to modernise the water and wastewater network in this part of the city.

Resurfacing works are currently ongoing and are due to be completed by the end of this week. At that stage the road will be opened to cars and motorcycles but buses are not expected to return to Foyle Street until the end of June.

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At the end of May, some footpath reinstatement works will be carried out before BSG moves to commence Phase 4 of the project at the Water Street/Foyle Street junction in early June.

Discussing Phase 4, NI Water Project Manager, Kieran Grant stated: "Some traffic management will be required during Phase 4 works to allow BSG to make the final connections in relation to these infrastructure upgrades.

"Foyle Street will remain accessible throughout business hours during the Phase 4 works and signage will be in place in advance to notify motorists of any temporary diversions. Phase 4 works are currently due to complete and all roads fully reopened by Friday, June 20. Once the buses have moved back to Foyle Street at the end of June, BSG will begin work to return the temporary bus station to a car park."

When complete in June, this project will bring about environmental benefits – including reduced risk of out-of-sewer flooding in the area – and will help support localised development in the short term.

Paying tribute to local stakeholders and the project team from Arup and BSG, Kieran added: "As project manager for these NI Water infrastructure upgrades, I'd like to thank the local businesses and wider stakeholders for their support, both in the run up to this project and while Foyle Street has been closed. From the outset the project team has been striving to complete this critical work in the shortest possible timeframe and it is a testament to their efforts that we will finish over a month ahead of programme – even with reopening Foyle Street for the Christmas and New Year period."