In pictures: Bird’s eye view of traffic-busting Shrewsbury roundabout
It was a project which involved about six months of roadworks and sparked heavy criticism.
Work on Shrewsbury's Meole Brace roundabout was completed several months ago following a multi-million pound renovation.
These images from above show how the completed roundabout looks today following the project, which was carried out to ease congestion on one of the town's busiest roundabouts.
Shropshire Council said that, in tandem with improved signalling and revised landscaping, the improvements were successfully delivered on time and in line with the allocated budget through its contractor McPhillips Ltd.
Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "Shropshire Council is currently delivering £12 million of key inward investment into Shrewsbury’s highways and town centre, through the Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Programme (SITP).
“Meole Brace roundabout was one of the first elements to be completed, and saw a fundamental redesign of the junction to accommodate the planned growth of residential and employment sites along Oteley Road, and also to acknowledge current day outbound traffic movements towards the A5 and A49.
"Shropshire Council also took the opportunity to greatly improve the safety and ease of use of the junction for cyclists and pedestrians with a brand new dedicated route through the roundabout separating these journeys from live vehicle traffic.
“The public and user response to the completed works has been very positive, and traffic movements for vehicles, pedestrians – particularly during events and football fixtures at the football stadium – and cyclists, have been greatly enhanced.
"With the ongoing improvements and refinement to the traffic lights phasing at the junction now enabled, the improvements have delivered a junction fit for purpose in terms of capacity for the planned growth of the town.
“As part of the reinstatement works to habitat and planting, the island is also becoming established as a more attractive, ecologically diverse and effectively managed gateway entrance to the town. Shropshire Council will continue to work with Shrewsbury Town Council to ensure that this continues.
“Shropshire Council continues to deliver further elements of the SITP, planning to complete the ‘key junctions’ phase on target before Christmas 2017, and moving onto public realm and Pride Hill enhancements within the town centre from March 2018.”
Nic Laurens, Shropshire Councillor for the Meole division, added: “Before and during the Meole Brace roundabout improvement work there was a great deal of debate amongst local residents regarding the need for and possible outcome of this work. Since its completion the majority of residents I speak to in the Meole area say they are supportive of the work.
"I’m pleased to say that odd remedial issue that has arisen has been very quickly addressed by Shropshire Council’s highways team.”
