Electricity North West, which operates the region’s power network, will start work on its £289k Walkden project on Wednesday.

The project, starting in Mountain Street, will see 600m of ageing underground electricity cables, first installed in the 1950s, replaced with 700m of new cable.

Expected to last three months, the crucial upgrades will benefit more than 15,000 customers in the area.

Ian Baldock, Electricity North West’s project manager for the work in Walkden, said: “The service we provide is critical and, as key workers providing a vital service, its crucial we continue to improve the power network.

“The need for electricity is only increasing, more and more people are reliant on it and that’s why we’re proactively replacing the underground cables which were first installed in the 1950s.

“When major work like this is carried out, roads need to be dug up to lay new cables and it isn’t an easy time for commuters or residents. But, as always, we will do our best to keep disruption to a minimum and I want to thank the residents of Walkden in advance for their understanding and co-operation.”

To ensure engineers can carry out work safely, a series of traffic management systems will be used on Mountain Street, Bolton Road Crossing and Hilltop Road throughout the various stages of the project.

Residents will be warned of any works taking place and the project is expected to be completed in March.

Electricity North West will closely monitor the flow of traffic but please allow extra time for your journey and try to avoid the area where possible.