Warwickshire County Council has announced full use of the Birmingham Road over the Christmas period as the traffic management on Phase 2 of the Improvements Scheme will be set aside.
Work on the second section, between 390 Birmingham Road and Worths Way has progressed well using the new Temporary Traffic Management arrangements which allowed two-way traffic using narrow lanes and the project team is satisfied that it will be able to completely remove all restrictions from 24 December to 2 January.
Among the work that has been recently completed was the construction of the large storm sewer in the outbound verge up to Worths Way, protecting the highways from the risk of flooding and was required to fill in the existing 1-2m deep ditch and backfill for the new footway and cycleway between Squirrels Street and Worths Way.
Access to the town centre and the train and bus stations via Squirrels Street will be enabled for pedestrians and cyclists through a temporary tarmac surface. The second layer of tarmacking has been held back to allow the footway’s use.
From 2 to 10 January, temporary traffic signals will be installed on Birmingham Road by Buckingham Way to enable the two sides of the drainage system to be connected across Birmingham Road.
The remaining work includes:
- installing new sewer in outbound lane between Worths Way and The Avenue
- installing new street lighting
- 2nd drainage road crossing by The Avenue
- widening footways on eastern (inbound) side for new cycleway
- new crossing on Birmingham Road by Squirrels Street
- New bus shelter on western (outbound) side
The contractor voluntarily worked on Saturdays to mitigate against any possible delays so the Phase 2 works can be finished on time at the end of January 2025.
Cllr Tim Sinclair, Warwickshire County Councillor for Stratford North, said:
“It’s great news that the traffic on the Birmingham Road will be enjoying unrestricted flow over the holiday period, and I’m delighted that our efforts to increase the numbers of staff working on site have had the benefit of keeping completion timescales on track.
“The work is going well, and in the future as a result of the new drainage the area will be protected from the worst effects of surface water, which so many areas of the county saw during the recent storms. I look forward to seeing pedestrians and cyclists using the safe, new shared use path and to the other benefits of this phase of the scheme being realised.”
More information on this as well as the scheme drawings will be available on the website: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/major-transport-construction-projects/birmingham-road-stratford/2.