Temporary lane and road closures started in a busy Acton road this week to allow energy suppliers to lay new cables.
A series of short trenches will be dug in the Popes Lane area in the next four months to bury ducts for new state-of-the-art electricity cables.
The work is being carried out by Southern Electric Power Distribution, which is replacing sections of its networks with 15km of gas-filled cables between Ealing and Isleworth.
The work, which began yesterday (28), is part of a larger £19 million project to install three new underground cables between substations from Popes Lane to Bridge Road and Osterley Court in Isleworth.
The short trenches being dug up by contractors J Murphy and Sons are in preparation for the cables which will be installed later in the project.
Next month will see a horizontal directional drill to install the ducting, which will house the new cables, in London Playing Fields next to Boston Gardens.
Duncan MacDonald, spokesman for Southern Electric apologised for the disruption caused. He said the road closure was necessary to ensure the safety of workers and the public, and hoped it would be kept to a minimum.
Residents in Popes Lane have been informed about the works.
John Beeston, chairman of Ealing Passenger Transport Users Group (EPTUG), said the E3 and N11 buses will run diversion routes along Gunnersbury Avenue, the A4 Great West Road, Ealing Road and South Ealing Road.
The works will make life more difficult for motorists who are already having to contend with the six-week closure of the Hogarth Roundabout i n Chiswick which began on July 19 and of Putney Bridge which is shut to all vehicles, but not pedestrians, until October.
