Work to begin on cycling and walking improvements on the A346 in Marlborough
Wiltshire Council is installing a toucan crossing and extending a shared use path on the A346 Salisbury Road in Marlborough to improve walking, cycling and wheeling facilities in the town.
Wiltshire Council is installing a toucan crossing and extending a shared use path on the A346 Salisbury Road in Marlborough to improve walking, cycling and wheeling facilities in the town.
The work will also help to unlock other cycling, walking and wheeling facilities in Marlborough, with the ultimate aim to create a traffic-free route that stretches from the east of the town to the west via the town centre.
The work will start on Monday 2 September and will take approximately eight weeks to complete. During this time there will be four-way temporary traffic signals and pedestrian diversion routes in place on the A346 Salisbury Road roundabout. However, to minimise disruption, the traffic lights will only be in place from 9.30am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, for the duration of the work - traffic should flow as normal outside of these times.
The existing shared use path on Blenheim Road will be extended to the point of the toucan crossing and will continue to a new shared use path away from Salisbury Road and up the embankment in front of Tesco car park. This will allow residents to safely walk, cycle or wheel to schools, nearby residential areas, the town centre, Marlborough Business Park, and Tesco.
The dropped kerbs and tactile paving on the splitter island at the roundabout will be removed to encourage use of the signal crossing, and the footway will also be widened on the western side of the new crossing point.
Cllr Tamara Reay, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: This work is an exciting start to a bigger project we have planned to unlock future cycling and walking opportunities in Marlborough, and eventually link a traffic-free route from both the east and west of the town to the town centre.
Although other aspects of the path are yet to be completed, this work is the first step in our longer-term plan to create safe and convenient active travel connected links through Marlborough and is well supported locally.
We apologise for any disruption caused during this time, and we appreciate that there have been a number of urgent roadworks carried out in Marlborough recently.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the works they cannot be carried out safely overnight, but we have done all we can to minimise disruption by restricting the working hours.
We're excited to see the finished project that will help enhance the local network and improve connectivity in the area, which is a key priority in our Business Plan.