Plans for improvements to Harnham Gyratory were recently announced at a Salisbury City Council meeting.
Wiltshire Council senior traffic engineer Paul Shaddock revealed details on the plans for the new design of the heavy traffic area during a full meeting of the city council on Monday, September 4.
Proposed design sheets show the widening of pedestrian islands, shared-use paths, a new southbound lane, and additional pedestrian and Toucan crossings.
As part of the works, the bus stop on New Bridge Road would be relocated to accommodate the new lane and a new pedestrian/cyclist priority crossing would be built on Britford Lane.
Cllr Caroline Thomas, cabinet member for transport, said: “This scheme aims to improve traffic flows on Harnham Gyratory to reduce congestion, while also making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists to travel along this well-used route into the city centre.”
Paul said Wiltshire Council plans to complete detailed designs by early next year, but one of the main parts of the plan that needs to be formulated is how to move existing utility lines so that they do not end up covered by the new sections of road.
He said: “We’re moving forward to complete the detailed design in early 2024. One of the biggest design considerations we’ve had is the diversion of existing utilities- that’s gas, water and everything that’s buried beneath the existing footway. A lot of the utilities are buried beneath the footway so that when they need work doing they don’t actually hold up the road, so if we widen into the existing footway, we need to look to divert those utilities.
“The cost of doing that and the length of time that takes has a big impact on the manoeuvrability of this scheme, so that’s something we haven’t quite got to the bottom of yet.”
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Salisbury city councillors expressed doubt that the changes in the scheme were sufficient to accommodate the increase in traffic expected as a result of multiple housing developments planned in the Harnham Gyratory area.
Councillor Annie Riddle said she didn’t believe the scheme would solve any problems given the hundreds of houses planned for Netherhampton Road, Garden Centre, Downton Road and Odstock Road.
Cllr Annie Riddle said: “I just don’t really find it very easy to believe that diagram showing me that the queues we already have on the Netherhampton Road, Harnham Road, coming into the gyratory, for example, are going to disappear by changing the traffic light timings and adding—at half the road’s length—an extra lane coming up from the bridge to the gyratory on the other side from all the traffic going the other way.
"I don't think it's realistic.
"You should probably wait before you see the impact of all that housing before you design a scheme to try and deal with it."
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