New traffic lights on the way for Tewkesbury
Work on a £100,000 scheme to ease congestion at a Tewkesbury bottleneck will start this month.
The county council has announced that it will replace ageing traffic lights at the busy junction of the A438 Ashchurch Road and Shannon Way, close to junction nine of the M5 motorway.
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To ensure minimum disruption, the work will start on July 20 when Tewkesbury School has closed for the summer holiday and is scheduled to finish by the time the new term begins at the end of August.
Gloucestershire Highways' project manager Sue Woodward said: "The existing signal equipment is worn out and was likely to become increasingly unreliable.
"We're replacing it with a system that has better signal heads that will be much easier to see.
"It also has a better method of managing traffic because it incorporates improved detection that allows vehicles to flow through the junction more efficiently – though it should also be appreciated that it can't accommodate congestion caused by other features in this area, like queuing from the roundabout.
"The new signals will not only incorporate energy-saving LED technology but will also run on extra low voltage power, so they will be safer to maintain."
Coun Mark Hawthorne, the council's cabinet member for the environment, said: "These signals not only have to handle traffic coming off the M5 but it's also on one of the main routes into Tewkesbury, making it one of the busiest junctions in the county.
"The new system won't solve all the issues associated with it but it will improve the flow of traffic and that has to be good news for everyone who uses it."
Until the new system is in place, traffic using the junction will be controlled by temporary lights, which, in a further attempt to reduce disruption, will be controlled manually during peak hours.
Gloucestershire Highways has written to people who live and work in the area, telling them about the work and when it is due to begin.
The J9 business group in Tewkesbury has been pushing for improvements to be made to the junction.
Hilary Allison, who runs public relations consultancy Vivid at the nearby Basepoint Business Centre, is a member of the group.
She said: "We're very pleased that work is to be done to try to alleviate the congestion. There are times when it's very difficult to get in and out of the business park.
"Time will tell whether this work will make a difference."
12 Comments
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by helen, glos
Monday, July 06 2009, 3:58PM
“The safeway money was more like £1.2m. The same happened with the Crescent money, the scaled down version should have left an excess but if it is not used in a certain time then it goes back into the general pot. I would have thought that with such a large amount of businesses that it was a condition to provide public transport even more so, now that the Launch pad has no parking.”
by traffic billy, tewkesbury
Monday, July 06 2009, 10:21AM
“Yes lets build a roundabout and then put lights on it, billy smarts traffic”
by Tewkesbury Business owner, Tewkesbury
Sunday, July 05 2009, 10:51AM
“I might be wrong on the amount, but I believe Safeways gave TBC £250,000 towards the building of the northern relief road and had a clause that it work hadn't started within a specified time scale it should be paid back........and because of dithering and petty issues it was never started and the money was paid back. I”
by Save Tewks, Tewks
Sunday, July 05 2009, 9:35AM
“There are two never completed relief roads - check the map.
Mitton Way heads south toward Northway lane but doesnt quite make it
Shannon way heads north west towards Bredon Road but isn't there yet.
A better relief road is Northway Lane starts outside the M5 at Aschurch station before joining Hardwick Bank Road. There are few fronting houses (or were) but for some reason it's been traffic calmed to nothing.
Theres no point closing roads then complaining of congestion somewhere else”
by Sarah, Cheltenham
Sunday, July 05 2009, 8:30AM
“I believe the developers of the new housing (Bovis etc) did just that - contributing to the northern relief road. But because TBC dithered for ten years they had to hand the dosh back.”
by Tewkesbury Business owner, Tewkesbury
Sunday, July 05 2009, 7:56AM
“Yes, Sarah there is probably enough land to put in a extra lane. The other thing that would easy some of the conjestion is the completion of tewkesburys northern relief road and linking it to Northway lane. A good majority of the estate traffic would exit the estate here. The real issue is the land developers should have been forced to make a major contribution to provide better roads.”
by Sarah, Cheltenham
Sunday, July 05 2009, 6:56AM
“Tewkesbury Business Owner - don't you think there's still enough land between the motorway and the junction to do SOMETHING at least. Not ideal I know, but theres a wide pavement, incorporating a layby which could be used as an extra lane, and to the left of the northbound exit slip road a field (with a sad looking horse) - so possibly a filter lane off the motorway sooner for traffic heading into town, and a separate, freeflowing lane into Shannon Way? I agree, though, it was very shortsighted to build the Travelodge and then expand the business park. This should have been better thought out.”
by Safety Man, Glos
Saturday, July 04 2009, 9:32PM
“Don't worry about the school!
When drivers see loads of kids about they slow down, the kids take advantage and cross the road. It looks dangerous but it's safe.
Accidents rarely happen outside schools. They usually happen further away where everyone thinks it's safe, but it isn't.
I might include some slightly raised effect to give pedestrians an indication of priority.”
by Tewkesbury Business Owner, Tewkesbury
Saturday, July 04 2009, 9:29PM
“A roundabout wouldn't make any difference to the traffic conjestion experienced here. The junction is too close to the motorway roundabout and also the crossing near the school. which constantly backs traffic up. This just shows how short sighted and useless the local planners are. There is far too much development near this Junction that have sprung up in the past few years. Before the pub was built there was plenty of room to make the road from the junction to the motorway roundabout three lanes, with no traffic lights and a filter lane for traffic leaving Shannon way. A good majority of the traffic leaving the estate is trying to get on the M5 north bound...this would reduce some conjestion. The other solution would be a foot bridge crossing near the school and a proper bus pull in.”
by Sarah, Cheltenham
Saturday, July 04 2009, 7:18PM
“I can see both sides here - a roundabout would keep the traffic flowing far more smoothly than traffic lights BUT its a busy junction just 100 yards from Tewkesbury School - a roundabout would be just too dangerous for the kids to cross. So why not combine the roundabout with a footbridge across Shannon Way - then both traffic and pedestrians can move freely.”