Update from Highways England Regarding Old Stratford Roundabout

A5 Old Stratford Roundabout Improvements

NEWSLETTER #06

September 2018

Highways England apologises for the delay in completion of the improvement works.

The £3.5million project, which will ultimately cut congestion and improve safety at the A5 Old Stratford Roundabout, is now set to be completed in autumn (end of October 2018)

The delay has been caused by a number of factors; wet weather earlier in the year, managing a number of changes to the original design and some buildability issues. Managing the impact of these delays on traffic flows at this complex junction has restricted the ability to mitigate the effect of the prolonged programme. Works on the A5 in Towcester, which commenced on the 23rd July, have also had an influence on current operations at Old Stratford.

Since January 2018, the team lost a number of working dates due to poor weather (beast from the east and even torrential rain). Unfortunately, due to the complex traffic management layouts required to maintain traffic flows, issues of this nature have a disproportionate effect on the overall works programme. To mitigate the impact of the prolonged programme every effort has been made to keep the effect of the delays to a minimum. To this end, works have been undertaken overnight on weekdays in co-ordination with other authorities using the highway network. The remaining works include; 

  1. Drainage on the roundabout Island. 
  2. Resurfacing two lanes of the North section of the roundabout** 
  3. New Street lighting columns to be fitted and powered 
  4. Resurfacing of the Footpath and completion of the pedestrian barriers 
  5. Top soiling and seeding

*For 2 weeks (27 Aug - 7 Sept) our night time works will concentrate on finishing extensive drainage works on the Island itself, you will see a 13 tonne long reach machine in place where we will be finishing a new water balancing pond / water storage area, this requires Traffic Management restrictions (inner ring) preventing us from working outside this area to allow traffic to flow through the roundabout.

**The final lane resurfacing on the North side of the Old Stratford roundabout is planned to take place overnight on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September (weather permitting) these works were previously planned for the weekend of 21/22 August but after 6 weeks of hot and dry weather, torrential thunderstorms prevented us from laying the new asphalt.

THANK YOU

We do appreciate the impact of disruption and inconvenience the works have caused local people and the travelling public and apologise for the project over-running the target completion date. It is appreciated that working at night to limit the effect on traffic flows unfortunately causes some noise issues for local residents. Efforts have been made to limit the impact but there is a degree of nuisance. We have been liaising with effected parties throughout and are grateful for their consideration and forbearance while works are taking place near their properties.

Highways England have tried to minimise the overall duration of the works and are encouraging our contractors to maximise outputs and productivity, without compromising safety. Once works are complete, the whole community will benefit from a smoother, faster and safer roundabout.

I will keep you posted with developments, please let contact me directly if you would like any further information.
Paul Valentine
Public Liaison Officer – A5 Old Stratford Roundabout