 |
| Engineers will be busy in Stafford this summer |
Major works get underway in Stafford
Stafford looks set for a summer of infrastructure improvements as gas utility giant National Grid and Staffordshire Highways continue to work together to deliver joint upgrades to the town's roads and gas supplies.
Three sets of vital improvements have been co-ordinated by Staffordshire Highways to ensure the town gets the maximum benefit in terms of improvements during the summer holiday season.
Potential conflicts between these vital schemes have been considered carefully and the operations have been organised to minimise impacts.
Bridge Street
The county £1million investment in the town centre's street scene continues with Staffordshire Highways moving ahead with paving of Bridge Street.
National Grid came together with Staffordshire to make the most of the window of opportunity opened up by the Staffordshire investment package.
The National Grid team have been working in Bridge Street for the last couple of months, but now Staffordshire Highways are in and working too, to deliver the new high quality pedestrian friendly shopping environment.
National Grid now need to link their gas main upgrade in South Walls and at the Greengate Street/Mill Bank junction. This will mean a temporary junction closure and diversions, kicking in from 15 June 2009.
It's a very complicated operation and can only be done by shutting the bottom of Greengate Street, and only allowing one way traffic across from Mill Bank to South Walls.
The timeline for completion of the junction works needs to be flexible, but everything will be done and dusted by the autumn.
Newport Road
Staffordshire County Council is also investing almost £600,000 in revitalising the stretch of the Newport Road from West Way to the M6 overbridge.
The lower town end of the popular residential road was replaced during a major operation in 2007. This is the next stage in the project.
From the second week in July Staffordshire Highways will completely strip and resurface the road, rebuilding the kerbs and pavements too, including dropped kerbs to help people cross to the new bus stop at Stafford Castle.
Most of the surfacing itself will be done at night, with footpath and kerbing work daytime.
Temporary lights will keep traffic flowing, with a few overnight closures of West Way and Sundown Drive at the junction with Newport Road. This will make the job safer and faster. Both junctions will be open to traffic as normal during the day.
The team hope to have it all wrapped up in a couple of months and will do everything they can to keep any disruption to an absolute minimum.
Gaol Road/Sandon Road/Browning Street
A major joint gas and highways scheme will see new gas mains and highways upgrades along Gaol Road, Sandon Road and Browning Street from late June through to the autumn.
The work will kick off with the closure of Gaol Road to allow the complete replacement of the gas main in what is a very tight street scene.
This phase of the programme should last approximately 4 weeks. There will be no through traffic but access to shops, businesses and properties will be maintained.
Phase two, which starts at the back end of July, will see gas mains replacement along most of Sandon Road, some remaining detailed works in Gaol Road, and a £650,000 upgrade of the highway along Sandon Road and Browning Street.
Traffic will flow again but only one way north bound up Gaol Road and Sandon Road, and westbound out along Browning Street to the A34 Greyfriars (Stone Road.)
Comment
Staffordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Highways Councillor Mike Maryon said the works had been carefully co-ordinated to minimise the impact for both drivers and the local community.
"These three highway and gas projects are vital to protect the long term future for the town.
"Staffordshire Highways has worked closely with the utility companies to take advantage of the summer holiday slot to get these vital works done, while scheduling to avoid key events like the annual Stafford Castle Shakespeare performance.
"We all rely on the network of gas, electricity, water, sewerage and telecoms systems under our roads. We all need good quality roads to keep people, goods and services on the move. And our demands as a community are ever greater.
"It takes ever increasing levels of co-ordination to maintain these services without causing major disruption.
"Staffordshire Highways has been held up at a national level for its innovative work in bringing everyone together to maximise the benefits and minimise the inconvenience in delivering infrastructure improvements," he said.
Newport Road leaflet
Gaol Road leaflet
Gaol Road map
Page Last Modified:
26/06/2009 10:32:32
Back to top