Green light for next phase of improvements to A40 London Road, High Wycombe
Important upgrades to key junctions along the A40 London Road in High Wycombe to help reduce congestion and improve traffic flows start on Monday (7 October).
The stretch from Easton Street to Loudwater will include improvements at the Gordon Road, Hatters Lane, Micklefield Road with Ryemead Way and Gomm Road junctions.
The £6.6m package of work also includes changes to bus lanes, the introduction of dedicated turning lanes and improvements to pedestrian crossings and traffic lights.
This phase of construction, which starts at the Gomm Road junction and runs for five weeks, builds on the technological improvements already made, including new CCTV, variable message boards and queue detection sensors.
When all works are fully completed later next year, it will mean better and more reliable journeys for all who use this key route in and out of the town centre. The design of the scheme is also expected to help improve air quality in this part of the town.
Buckinghamshire County Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport, Mark Shaw, said these were key works to address the concerns of local people and businesses about congestion and supporting the future growth of the town.
“We all know High Wycombe is a busy place, particularly the A40 corridor and judging by my postbag, people were very keen to see something significant done.
“It’s been a great effort to get over £4 million in government funding, especially considering bids came in from all over the country. And, with the further £2.5m from local transport board funding through the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, we’ve been able to make a further serious investment in High Wycombe’s infrastructure.”
In total, 125 responses were received during recent consultation on the junction improvements which included a public exhibition held on June 20.
Mark continued: “We are starting works on 7 October and expect to finish in summer 2020. While this is quite a long time, there’s a lot to do. We will be working hard to avoid causing too many delays by working at off-peak and night times for the vast majority of work. I hope people will bear with us and if there are delays, please accept my apologies – this will be short term pain for much longer gain.”
Chief Executive of the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Richard Harrington, said: “This is a much needed investment in the local highway and transport infrastructure to improve connectivity along this important corridor. In particular, reducing congestion, improving journey time reliability and supporting the local economy as part of this growing town.
“The LEP has supported a reallocation of £2.5m of Local Growth Funds which, in turn, helped to lever an additional £4.1m grant from the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund. We now really look forward to the scheme being completed.”
You can keep up-to-date with the project and any expected delays by visiting www.buckscc.gov.uk/A40LondonRoad and signing up to the regular e-bulletin via the webpage.
Daytime work on footways will take place between 8am and 4.30pm. Work requiring lane closures will be done at night between 7pm and 6am, with no loud work after 11pm, to minimise disruption. Temporary traffic lights will operate while permanent lights are installed.