Staff from Tamworth Regional Council started work on a traffic island preventing all cars entering Lancaster Ave near Kelso St in East Tamworth.

The council’s general manager, Glenn Inglis, said the road closure would give residents a renewed sense of personal safety and allow them to reclaim their street as a residential roadway – rather than the racetrack it has become in recent years.

A resident of the avenue for more than 20 years, Ian Bridge said the roadblock was “a long time coming”.

A former police officer, Mr Bridge said he had chased and arrested many hoons over the years trying to get “lift-off” with their cars.

Another campaigner to get the road closed was Steve de Lacey.

He said that despite a “nasty accident” late last year, young drivers had used Lancaster Ave as a speedway up until last Sunday.

A 20cm-high concrete pad will be laid across the width of the roadway near the Kelso St intersection, to stop traffic entering that stretch of Lancaster Ave down to Sapphire Cres.

Work is expected to be complete by Friday.

Traffic will be able to use alternative routes to that block via either Chelmsford or Carthage streets.