North Street in Elgin city centre will remain closed to traffic for another 18 months.
It has been shut since May 2018 due to emergency repair works being undertaken on the Poundland building.
Now, Moray Council has issued a new public notice stating that it will likely remain closed until December 2022.
It added that the closure was “owing to dangerous building repair works” and that “it remains necessary in the interest of public safety to keep the road closed.”
Traffic will continue to be diverted up along Batchen Street, through to South Street, then Greyfriars Road and finally up Alexandra Road.
Lorries and delivery vans will need to travel on the Plainstones, up through Lossie Wynd and then finish through Alexandra Road.
Poundland repairs
Work has been ongoing to repair the historic Poundland building ever since it came to close to collapsing in 2018.
Water seeped in through the roof for many years, significantly weakening the building.
This led to a safety perimeter being erected in May 2018, with Poundland continuing to trade.
Scaffolding was then erected in a bid to fix the building, which is now owned by Poundland after they had previously leased it up until 2019.
The B-listed site used to be occupied by Woolworths before they shut down, and is now a popular shopping destination in Elgin town centre.
Poundland bought the Victorian-era premises for a nominal sum and promised to keep it going as a shop.
They submitted plans to Moray Council to continue as a retail outlet.
Work is ongoing to demolish parts of the building which will then be rebuilt in a similar style.
The upper floors of the building will be significantly renovated, with plans to build modern flats there.
In addition, Poundland plans to build an extension stretching down North Street with two ground floor shops.