A HALF-MILE long new sewer tunnel is to be installed beneath the streets of Yoker as part of a £7m project to improve water quality and tackle flooding along Dumbarton Road.

Scottish Water has started work on the project, which involves the construction of a new sewer tunnel from the grounds of the former Blawarthill Hospital in Knightswood to the north bank of the Clyde.

The project, which will involve the construction of a new combined sewer overflow with powered screens off Dumbarton Road (A814), will improve water quality on the Yoker Burn culvert and the Clyde and help tackle flooding issues which have affected a business premises on Dumbarton Road.

The new stretch of sewer, which will be about eight metres deep, will be installed using a specially constructed tunnel boring machine rather than excavating mass stretches of roads, as Scottish Water aims to minimise disruption to locals.

Disruption is however expected as the route of the new tunnel will cross major traffic routes. It will run from the former hospital grounds, close to Dyke Road, under part of Dumbarton Road and parallel with another part of Dumbarton Road to the Clyde, west of the former Scotstoun shipyard.

Joanna Peebles, Scottish Water’s regional communities team manager, said: “Scottish Water has liaised with all relevant organisations and stakeholders, including Glasgow City Council as the project will include work in part of Yoker Primary School’s grounds and there will be some construction traffic on roads in the area and a small amount of road traffic management required.

“We can assure local residents, businesses and road users that we will do everything possible to minimise any disruption and would stress that any inconvenience will be far out-weighed by the long-term benefits to the local environment that this investment will deliver.” Contractors George Leslie, working for Scottish Water, are expected to complete the work in about a year, depending on weather conditions.

The tunnel project is part of investment of about £10.5m in improvements to waste water infrastructure in the Yoker area and part of Clydebank, which started in November 2014.