Rugby Western Relief Road works progress
Work is progressing well on the £37m Rugby Western Relief Road, with a number of new developments underway.
Residents in the Newbold Road area of Rugby are being warned to expect delays in the next few weeks as a key part of the Rugby Western Relief Road development forces a three week closure of a junction.
The online work for Newbold Road Roundabout is now progressing, and as it is necessary to have temporary traffic lights, traffic delays will occur. By working long days and weekends, it is hoped that these lights will be removed before the start on the new school term.
However, from 10 August, the existing access and egress roads to Yates Avenue and Forsted Road from Newbold Road, will be totally closed to traffic. This will be for a period of up to three weeks, but it is appreciated how inconvenient this will be so every effort be made to try to reduce the time. Residents of the Glebe Estate who use these roads will have to be diverted to junction with Leicester Road.
Meanwhile the majority of road building activity between Potfords Dam Roundabout and Sow Brook Bridge including the link between Cawston Roundabout and the Cawston Grange Estate has now been completed. In this area, activities including the top-soiling of the verges, carrying out various items of drainage work and constructing the pedestrian/cycleway are continuing.
Earthmoving operations adjacent to Sow Brook are being carried out to provide a crane platform which will be employed to lift the concrete beams into place. It is expected that this operation will be in mid-August.
A long length of retaining is required for most of the distance between Sow Brook Bridge and Lawford Road, as there is insufficient space available to build a conventional embankment between the Relief Road, and the properties of the Paynes Lane Estate Lane. This retaining wall is to be of reinforced earth, and construction works has just started.
The old hump backed bridge carrying Lawford Road over the disused railway was successfully taken down in June and work is continuing on removing the approach embankments which date back to 1850.
The material from which these embankments had been constructed has been found to be of a good quality so is now being used to build the embankments for the new road between Newbold Road and the new bridge over the River Avon.
The removal of the bridge and its approach embankments will allow the construction of Lawford Road Junction to progress. This, when completed, will be the largest at level signalised junction in Warwickshire.
Construction of the tunnel to connect the quarries on either side of Parkfield Road is continuing and because of the limited working space, the faces of the excavation are so steep that they are having to be strengthened using a system of sprayed on concrete and soil nailing.
The concrete deck of Parkfield Road Railway Bridge has recently been cast, and precast parapet units will be lifted into place in the next few weeks. Like most operations associated with this bridge, it can only be carried out when the railway line is closed to rail traffic, so it will be done overnight on two consecutive weekends
Meanwhile, anyone wanting a behind the scenes glimpse of the new relief road taking shape can book onto minibus tours by contacting Peter Bones of Warwickshire County Council on 01788 513125.
They generally take place on a Tuesday morning and last about 1½ hours. Owing to the limited number of spaces available, a first come first served system is operated.
For further information on the project contact the site office on 01788 513100 or visit the website at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/rwrr