Work on a traffic calming scheme for a Dorchester ‘rat-run’ road is to start this week.

The project, for Victoria Road and adjacent streets, is designed to deter drivers using the area to avoid a ‘no turn’ order at Great Western Cross. That order was put in operation last year when the county council revamped the junction, claiming it would improve traffic flows in the area.

Many questioned at the time why a left turn into Cornwall Road towards the Borough Gardens from Damers Road, to the west, needed to be banned.

Residents in Victoria Road say they have been subjected to an increase in traffic since the changes were made despite the road being made access only – which is widely ignored.

Work starts from Monday, November 4 on installing traffic humps and other measures which will mean the closure of the road for periods until the work is completed.

Dorset Council say the work is expected to be completed by the end of November although the order for the legal temporary closure of the roads remains in force for 18 months.

Once finished Victoria Road, and all of the roads leading immediately off it, will be subject to a 20mph speed limit.

The calming scheme itself had previously been held up after several residents lodged formal objections to it, which resulted in a delay of around six months while the traffic orders went to consultation and were then approved by a planning committee and Dorset Council.

The new restrictions will also apply to other roads off Victoria Road – Westover Road, St Helens Road and Albert Road, all to the west of Cornwall Road which runs parallel to the Borough Gardens.

More than three quarters of residents in the area supported the traffic calming proposals in a public consultation exercise with the objections only being lodged once the proposed legal orders were published.