QUICK WORK has rid Cupar town centre of controversial roadworks in less than two days, despite them being scheduled to last until tomorrow.

In what Scottish Water themselves described as a “two-day wonder,” resurfacing of St Catherine Street started on Monday morning and was finished by Tuesday afternoon.

The job was scheduled to last five days and there were fears town centre businesses would suffer as a result of congestion caused by the complete closure of St Catherine Street, particularly as the long Easter weekend began.

The utility firm was given a pat on the back for pulling out all the stops to resurface the street quickly, following its 10-week project last year to repair an underground sewer.

Local trader Eric Dall, a member of the Federation of Small Businesses, said Scottish Water deserved praise and noted work on site continued well into Monday evening.

His shop J&T Rodger was affected by last year’s much longer roadworks and he feared similar consequences this time round.

But he said, “They should be complimented with the way they have worked through this.

“We were concerned about Friday. The shops get a lot of trade on Good Friday.

“Hopefully that’s the end of disruption for a period to come.”

Cupar councillor Loretta Mordi, who had accused Scottish Water of failing to properly consult ahead of the project and had pushed for early completion, said she was delighted with the result.

She said, “This is very good. Now they are finished Cupar can go back to normal.

“It shows what you can achieve when you persist.”

Fellow town councillor Margaret Kennedy added, “I am glad that Cupar has now got back to normal following the roadworks in St Catherine Street.

“It will be too early to say if the businesses have been adversely affected.

“However I would hope that due to the shorter period taken to complete the works that the impact has been lessened.

“There was good partnership working locally in relation to these works between transportation, the businesses and ourselves which is something, which would hopefully be replicated for any similar works in the future.”

Scottish Water said with fine weather in their favour and no technical hitches, squads worked late to resurface around 400 square metres of road, some on behalf of Fife Council, and finish ironworks.

By Tuesday morning all that was left to do was reinstall traffic lines, paint white lines and dismantle temporary traffic lights.

Customer operations team manager Peter Darbyshire said, “I am delighted that our team has been able to complete not only our essential work but that of the council’s.

“It delivers on our promise that we would do all we could to minimise the impact on customers and businesses.

“The team has really delivered and St Catherine Street is now open for business well in advance of the Easter break.”

The resurfacing work completes £250,000 of investment into modernising an ageing sewer, dating back to 1810, to minimise risk of collapse.