THE A590 will be closed overnight TONIGHT, Thursday and Friday.

Motorists are being urged to plan their journeys carefully as the Highways Agency plans to close the A590 at Newby Bridge for essential "wear and tear" repairs.

Drivers will face long diversions from 10pm tonight until the single carriageway stretch of road east of Back Lane reopens at 6am for rush hour traffic.

Some early morning delays could also be expected as drivers navigate the roadworks.

On Thursday the same stretch of the A590 will be closed between 11pm and 6am to accommodate visitors to a BBC Carol Concert in Barrow and on Friday the road will be closed from 10pm until 6am.

Earlier this week motorists were left confused when road closure signs displaying the wrong information were displayed along the A590.

Signs at Newby Bridge and Low Newton clearly stated the A590 would be closed from tonight for seven nights from 8pm until 6am.

But on Friday evening Highways Agency bosses released more information saying the road closure was actually taking place from Monday until Thursday.

When The Mail questioned the Highways Agency over the errors they refused to apologise.

Instead they said both the signs and the previous announcement were in good faith but based on outdated information.

A spokesman for Highways England said: “This is vital, if routine, maintenance to ensure users of the A590 in this part of Cumbria can continue to enjoy safe and smooth journeys.

"These wear and tear repairs include work to tackle potholes and resurfacing other sections of the carriageway – work we can only do safely along a single lane section of the route by closing the road in both directions. We are doing these now before we get the worst of the winter weather.

“We do plan carriageway closures very carefully to minimise disruption to road users and local communities and we do as much work as possible - as in this case - at night when traffic is at its lightest. In this case we have already been listening to local people and have adjusted the time of the overnight closures and have put the start of works each night back by two hours.

"Work will now take place between 10pm and 6am each night instead of 8pm which is a typical start time for closures. In discussing this work – which was advertised in a public notice several weeks ago – we are also accommodating a BBC concert in Barrow on Thursday night by starting the work at 11pm. We’ve also made arrangements to escort a late public bus service through the works.

“We have also reviewed the time needed to do the work and have reduced that from five nights to four nights and today to three nights.

"We appreciate feedback from communities and other road users and anyone with any comments can contact us at info@highwaysengland.co.uk, call us on 0300 123 5000. “