Plans to resurface the southern section of the Mountain Road have been postponed due to a mechanical failure at the Department of Infrastructure’s (DOI) asphalt plant.

The month-long closure of the A18 Mountain Road, which was set to allow major resurfacing ahead of the 2025 TT, has been put on hold after a gearbox failure at the Poortown Quarry plant left it unable to produce the required material.

This now means the road improvement works will be rescheduled to take place after Manx Grand Prix in September.

However, the A18 Mountain will be closed in two phases over two weeks for preparatory works, including the installation of TT race equipment.

The first closure, covering the section from the Bungalow to the Creg ny Baa, will take place from April 7 to 11.

The second, from the Bungalow to Ramsey, will follow from April 14 to 17.

The road will be shut throughout both periods but could reopen earlier if works are completed ahead of schedule.

A section of the Mountain Road between the Bungalow and the Creg ny Baa did however close on Wednesday, but that was so police could carry out investigations into a previous road traffic collision.

A DOI spokesman said the original resurfacing project required around 3,500 tonnes of asphalt.

Due to uncertainty over when the Poortown plant will be operational again, the decision was taken to postpone the works until after the Manx Grand Prix.

Resurfacing must be completed at least a month before any race period to allow the new surface to be ‘sufficiently trafficked’ before racing begins.

Other road surfacing projects requiring smaller amounts of asphalt will continue using material from a privately operated plant at Billown.