Meole Brace roundabout to close during weekdays for FIVE weeks
The next phase of the major redevelopment of a Shrewsbury roundabout begins this weekend, and will run for five weeks.
Motorists are being reminded the next stage of work on Meole Brace roundabout in Shrewsbury is about to re-start.
Contractors will move onto the site at the weekend, and construction work will get under way with part of the roundabout closed and diversions put in place.
The section of roundabout will be closed from 10pm on a Sunday night to 4pm on a Friday between February 12 and March 24, but will be open weekends.
It is part of the £12 million Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Package, which will see work carried out over the next 11 months to improve four major junctions around the 'inner bypass', at Meole Brace roundabout, English Bridge Gyratory, Reabrook roundabout and Longden Coleham.
Today, transport bosses have urged drivers to plan ahead and avoid the area where possible during the works.
Simon Jones, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The work on the Meole Brace Roundabout is the first, important, part of the Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Package (SITP), which has been designed to improve the transport system in Shrewsbury, and enhance the town centre.
"The work at Meole will ensure the roundabout continues to function after the vast development along Oteley Road is complete, and with the predicted additional users of the
route.
"Additional safety benefits will also be added, such as a dedicated foot and cycle route to prevent some of the numerous cycle accidents that have occurred and to make it safer for football fans to visit the Greenhous Meadow or shoppers to visit the retail park, with additional signal-controlled crossings also being installed.
"We appreciate that this next phase of work will cause disruption and inconvenience but we ask people for their patience while this important work is carried out, and we encourage drivers to use an alternative route whenever possible."
Machinery will move in on the roundabout on Friday, with diversions and partial closures coming into force this Sunday.
The closure will affect the section of roundabout at the junction with Hereford Road, meaning motorists will have to exit on to Hereford Road itself and continue to the retail park roundabout before turning back on themselves to complete a circuit of Meole Brace roundabout.
