Rugby Western Relief Road update
Rugby residents are being reassured that works which gridlocked the town last month are now completed and roads should be getting back to normal.
Traffic lights will be in Newbold Road for a brief period over the next couple of weeks, but the congestion which hit Rugby last month should not be repeated.
Cllr Alan Cockburn, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “A major link on the Rugby Western Relief Road had to be completed last month and as a result the traffic situation was dreadful.
“The traffic congestion which was on February 8 and 9 resulted from roadworks at Avon Mill Roundabout and was expected, but not to the degree of severity that was actually experienced.
“I would like to apologise on behalf of the county council to the large number of people who were frustrated and inconvenienced by these works. Understandably, we received a great number of complaints from local people.
“Traffic lights will be in place on Newbold Road, and soon on Lawford Road near Paynes Lane, which will require three way lights, but hopefully we have seen the last of any major delays as a result of the Rugby Western Relief Road development.”
The work was necessary for the reshaping of the existing roundabout which is an integral part of the new relief road. Most of the work was to have been done under three-way traffic lights which were brought into service on Monday, 8 February, and were to have been operating 24 hours per day.
In light of the severity of the delays, Warwickshire County Council instructed that work on the road should only to be carried out between 9.30am and 4.30pm, so that at peak hours, the temporary traffic lights were switched off to ease congestion.
In addition to this the county agreed with the contractors to implement a different regime of traffic management to significantly reduce the amount of disruption. These measures however could have resulted in the work taking longer to complete than originally planned.
It had been planned for the roadworks to be complete before February 22, which was the end of the schools half term holiday, but in view of this new regime, it was considered likely that the target would not be achieved.
However by increasing the resources and working over the weekends, the temporary traffic lights were removed by the target date.
The county council also worked with other companies currently carrying out work in the area to help minimise disruption throughout Rugby.
Night time working was also considered, but as concrete and macadam surfacing cannot be placed at low temperatures, it was felt that this was not be a viable option at this time of year.
This was the last operation to do with the construction of the relief road that will require such major traffic management.
Towards the end of the year, when it is expected that the relief road is completed and open to traffic, it is hoped that the people of Rugby will find their journeys in and around Rugby much more safe and pleasant, and less time consuming.
For further information on the project contact the site office on 01788 513100 or visit the website at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/rwrr