THE Conservative group has written to Highways England to note its "total dissatisfaction and frustration" with the A36.

In a letter to Neil Winter, Highways England route manager, the group has highlighted two issues in particular: "The lack of any meaningful progress on the Southampton Road walkway/cycle lane improvements, and the potentially life-threatening consequences of the traffic light outage on St Mark’s Roundabout."

The A36 cycle scheme has experienced some delays due to unforeseen service lines, meaning the pavements had to be hand dug using specialist equipment and the current plan is to reopen the cycleway at the end of June.

Regarding work on the cycleway and other improvements to the A36, Highways England works closely both Wiltshire and Salisbury Council through liaison meetings and consultations and all work is pre-approved and often undertaken in partnership.

'Blatant disregard and carelessness'

Other concerns voiced by the group are:

  • The "severe lack of consultation with Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council on the Southampton Road scheme, which carries a total cost of £600,000+";
  • The "carelessness with which Highways England’s contractors have dealt with Southampton Road/St Mark’s Roundabout", which the group says has resulted in delays to the completion of works and dangerous road conditions which will cause accidents;
  • Highways England’s "blatant disregard for the problems identified by local communities, e.g. gridlock on Churchill Way East".

Salisbury Journal: Charles McGrath

Cllr Charles McGrath, representing Salisbury Milford, has contacted Adrian Simon – Skanska project manager - about the Southampton Road works.

They say Simon offered a written guarantee that the works would be completed by the end of June.

Regarding St Mark’s Roundabout, Cllr McGrath says he has been contacted by many residents about "near-misses", especially involving cars entering the roundabout from Wain-a-Long Road and Estcourt Road.

A Wiltshire Council officer explained that the traffic light outage, caused by a contractor accidentally damaging the ducts and power cables connecting the lights, would only be repaired in months, not weeks, while also noting that the roundabout is ‘not suitable for operation without traffic lights’.

The group says these issues are "emblematic of the blatant disregard Highways England has shown towards the people of Salisbury in recent years".

They add: "Schemes with costs running into 6-figures are being imposed on the city without good reason, while resolutions to actual problems faced by local communities – e.g. the intolerable congestion on College Roundabout and Churchill Way East – are ignored.

"On behalf of our residents, we register our disappointment at the treatment of our city by Highways England and their contractors and demand an urgent and comprehensive action plan to resolve these issues and stop them from happening again."

'Safety is our number one priority'

Highways England Route Manager Neil Winter said safety is the its "number one priority", and that traffic management has been in place since the start of works to ensure the safety of all.

He said they would encourage everyone to follow the traffic management in place, with pedestrians crossing at the correct points to ensure they are not putting themselves or motorists in danger.

He added: “We are, of course aware of issues on the A36 as a whole, including congestion, and are doing everything within our power to improve this where possible. However, the A36 is a major route that runs through an historic city, meaning options to improve the road are limited – it is highly unlikely we would be able to widen the road and implement additional lanes.

“That said, we will always try to facilitate improvements where possible, with the likes of cycleways or traffic light improvements to ease congestion, and in this case we are working towards opening the cycleway at the end of this month.

“Regarding the traffic light outage at St Mark’s roundabout, the signals were switched off following damage caused by resurfacing work. We are unaware of any near misses, no congestion has been reported by Wiltshire Council, and repair work will be undertaken in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

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