'Chaos' warning as Shrewsbury road to close for a week for latest work
One of the main routes through Shrewsbury town centre will be closed for a week while roadworks are carried out, with a council leader warning it will bring chaos to the town.
Murivance and Town Walls, including Kingsland Bridge, Swan Hill, Quarry Place and St John's Hill, will be closed from October 29.
It is the latest disruption caused to people in the town by work being carried out under the Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Package (SITP).
In recent months Pride Hill has been the latest area affected, and before that Wyle Cop was hit by nine weeks of disruption.
Map of works and diversions:
Improvements to Meole Brace and Reabrook junctions, the English Bridge Gyratory and Coleham Head have also been completed as part of the £12 million SITP being completed by Shropshire Council to improve transport routes in the town.
The work has been labelled 'chaos built on chaos' by Shrewsbury Town Council's leader Alan Mosley, who today demanded a meeting with Shropshire Council to raise concerns.
He said he had written to Shropshire Council about the number of complaints he had received about ongoing roadworks across the town and had been promised a meeting, adding: "This meeting has not yet been arranged despite the urgency that I expressed.
"People are concerned about the road markings and certain safety features that they feel are lacking.
"I'm very concerned about how this has been managed, especially as it follows the chaos of Pride Hill, which seems to be going on longer than expected.
"I can only hope that someone gets a grip of the planning of these various schemes to prevent further damage to the reputation of the town and the massive inconvenience for residents and visitors alike.
Disruption
"It's going to be chaos built on the chaos already around this town. The additional closures will do further damage to the reputation of the town. Some investigation needs to take place to prevent further disasters in the future."
The latest works will involve roads closed to vehicles with access maintained to residents and local businesses only. No through traffic will be permitted and signed diversion routes will be provided 'where necessary'. Traffic management personnel will be posted at each closure point to assist with access.
The work is weather dependant so may be subject to unforeseen delays, Shropshire Council has said.
A spokesman for the authority added: "Every effort will be made to keep any disruption to a minimum and we thank people for their understanding while this important work is carried out."
Work will then recommence in early January 2019 on the next phase in Claremont Bank, and then Town Walls, with completion anticipated in spring 2019.
