Drive with care as 2026 road works season ramps up

Drivers are being urged to allow extra time for journeys and drive with care as Orkney Islands Council’s Roads team gears up for the summer road works season – including the annual surface dressing programme.

The Roads team is already out and about doing preparatory work in several areas of the county ahead of surface dressing starting at the end of the month - including road sweeping, surveys, patching and setting up signage and traffic management.

The warmer summer months typically sees an extensive surface dressing programme take place around the county, where selected roads are ‘dressed’ with a protective layer of polymer binder and chips to help prolong the life of carriageways.

The 2026 programme will start around 25 May at Tankerness Hall Road in Tankerness, and finish around the start of July. Seven stretches of road totalling around 17km are being surface dressed, across Tankerness, Holm, South Ronaldsay, Finstown, and Birsay.

Crews will be working around school transport, but sections will be closed to all other traffic (with the usual exception of emergency vehicles).

Roads included in this year’s programme are listed below and folk can take a closer look via the interactive map at www.orkney.gov.uk/roads

Surface dressing seals the road surface, preventing further deterioration and stopping water from penetrating the deeper road structure, which can then lead to potholes forming. At around £6.50 per square metre it is an effective and efficient way to reduce the need for more costly repairs such as resurfacing (where the road surface is planed out and replaced).

Lorna Richardson is Director of Infrastructure and Organisational Development: “We surface dress in summer as the warmer temperatures help the materials cure quicker, meaning we can move through the work and reopen roads in optimum time for people.

“We’d ask drivers to be mindful our team are out and about more over coming weeks, and could well be on the roads in early mornings to set up and possibly sometimes later than 5pm - so please be prepared to encounter crews on the road right throughout the summer roadworks season.”

Once underway, folks can follow the Council’s social media for updates on surface dressing operations:

Telegram: t.me/OIC_Roads
Facebook: www.facebook.com/oicroads
www.orkney.gov.uk

The 2026 surface dressing programme is detailed below in date order. Please note work is weather and temperature dependent and so all dates provided are indicative only. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates throughout the programme.

• Tankerness: Tankerness Hall Road (from Shore Road junction to Yinstay Road) – 25 May to 1 June
• Holm: Cornquoy Road (from St Nicholas Church to Benshall Road) – 2 June to 3 June
• South Ronaldsay: Aikers Road (from B9044 Grimness Road to Haybrake Road) – 4 June to 8 June
• Holm: A961 (from St Mary’s village to Moss Road) – 9 June to 12 June
• Finstown: A966 (from Finstown village to Norseman) – 15 June to 23 June
• Birsay: Hundland Road (from A986 to Durkadale junction) – 24 June to 25 June
• Birsay: B9057 Hillside Road (from 1400m east of Beaquoy to 900m east of Durkadale junction) – 26 June to 1 July