WORK has started on a safety scheme in a notoriously dangerous Uttoxeter road as part of an £80,000 project in the town.
Staffordshire County Council’s Highways team began work on Monday in Stone Road, as part of a wider scheme to make it easier for shoppers and residents to get out and about in the area they live in.
Highways engineers are installing a zebra crossing on Stone Road South and a raised table junction and zebra crossing will also be created at the junction of Picknalls, Oldfields Road and Stone Road.
It is the first part of the project which went to public consultation in Uttoxeter last year with work also set to take place over the coming months at the junction of High Street/Bradley Street/Smithfield Road.
The work will take place Monday to Friday only and resurfacing of a 45- metre stretch of the carriageway on the four approaches to the table junction will also be carried out.
This part of the project will involve two road closures to allow the highways team to carry the work out in safety.
The closures have been scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 8, and Sunday, August 15, to keep disruption to residents to a minimum.
Access to resident’s properties and the Leisure Centre in Oldfields Road will be maintained at all times and a short diversion will be put in place while this work is carried out.
Geoff Morrison, who represents the Uttoxeter Town division on the county council (pictured above in Stone Road) , welcomed the improvements and said the scheme had been carefully coordinated to coincide with the summer holiday to keep disruption to an absolute minimum.
He said: “The highways team has worked hard to schedule these improvements at a time when it will have the least possible impact on residents, traders and visitors to the area.
“The safety measures will be a welcome improvement to Uttoxeter and will encourage people to leave their costly cars at home, boost their health and well-being and take a stroll instead.”
As well as encouraging walking in the town, it is hoped the work on one of Uttoxeter’s busiest roads will ease safety concerns on the town’s main school-run route.
Parents and staff at Picknalls School and Oldfields Hall Middle School, in the vicinity of the improvement plans, have campaigned for more protection for parents and children walking to and from the two schools.
