Lancashire County Council has announced a number of road improvements and Sustainable Transport initiatives, as part of its Environment Directorate 2013/14 Commissioning Plan for Lancaster.
Work has already begin on some work and although the
start and completion of works may change (the plan is updated through
the year), the priorities for road improvements have been announced as
follows
Quarter 1: 1 April – 30 June
A683 Lancaster Road: Caton to M6, Lancaster Rural East – Surface dressing
A683 Melling Road: Melling to Greta, Lancaster Rural East – Surface dressing
C449 Quernmore Road, Caton: A683 to Posterngate Road, Lancaster Rural East – Surface inlay
A6 Slyne Road: Coastal Road to 30 gate way, Morecambe North/Lancaster Rural North – Surface dressing
C354 Stoney Lane, Lancaster Rural East – Surface dressing
Westbourne Road, Lancaster: Station Road to Willow Lane – Surface inlay
Mill Lane, Bolton Le Sands: Railway bridge to St Nicholas Lane railway bridge, Lancaster Rural North – Surface inlay
Greenacre Road: Whole length, Morecambe Nort – Surface inlay
Lancaster Road, Heaton with Oxcliffe: Santchens to Moss Road Lancaster Road, Heysham – Surface inlay
Locka Lane: B6254 to first gate, Lancaster Rural East – Surface dressing
Park House Road: Whole length, Lancaster Rural East – Surface dressing
Docker Village area: Whole area, Lancaster Rural East – Surface dressing
Newton phase 2: Langdale Road/ Coniston Road, Lancaster East – Footway resurfacing
Quarter 2: 1 July – 30 September
A5101 Coastal Road, Morecambe North – Thin surfacing
C478 Aldrens Lane: Full length, Skerton – Strengthening
A683 Main Street Hornby: Station Road to Fall Kirk, Lancaster Rural East – Surface inlay
B5273 Oxcliffe Road Morecambe: Pumping Station to Woodlands Drive – Surface inlay
Gressingham
Landslip: 50m Town Bridge to Brook Side – Repairs to highway embankment
on C506 at Gressingham (subject to land agreement)
Bentham Road
Resurfacing: 950m from Ravensclose Road to the County Boundary with
North Yorkshire – Drainage works and carriageway resurfacing on the
B6480 Bentham Road at Wennington
Thornton Road III: Marine Road to Dallam Avenue, Morecambe North – Carriageway resurfacing
Albert Road: Marine Road to Chatsworth Road, Morecambe West – Footway resurfacing
Quarter 3: 1 October – 31 December
Hest Bank Road: Whole length, Morecambe North – Carriageway resurfacing
Royal Road, Morecambe: Full length, Morecambe North – Footway resurfacing
Quarter 4: 1 January – 31 March 2014
Hillsea Avenue, Morecambe: Full length, Heysham – Footway resurfacing
Dates of Completion to be confirmed
Lindow Square, Lancaster – Lantern embellishment
Lancashire County Council is also working to deal with
that bane of all road users – potholes. Funding arrangements regarding
patching and pothole repair have been revised to ensure that capital
funds are used to fund patching schemes to extend the life of highway
assets, and revenue money is used to repair potholes in the interests of
public safety until more extensive works can be implemented.
This
new funding arrangement does not affect the total resources available
to the district, and therefore continue to support the Councils target
to repair 90 per cent of potholes identified within 30 days.
A
capital allocation will be available in 2013-14 to fund patching of A, B
and C roads, urban unclassified roads, rural unclassified roads and
footways.
Sustainable Travel projects – some planned to
complement the building of the M6 Link Road – are also in the works,
aiming to support economic development by helping to manage transport
demand and removing unnecessary short local car journeys from the
network, freeing up capacity to allow more reliable journey times for
both people and goods.
“Improving sustainable access to
current businesses in the area can also act as a major attraction for
inward investment,” says the Council, “and increasing available network
capacity can also help remove barriers to bringing forward new
developments. Increases in active travel within communities have been
widely shown to increase retailer footfall in local areas, helping to
economically maintain local centres.”
Planning and
implementing infrastructure improvements, promoting use of existing
facilities, business travel planning, adult cycle training and healthy
streets initiatives will, the Council argue, all support economic
development.
Sustainable Travel will also improve
access to employment, training and services for all communities by
enabling low cost trips by cycling, walking, public transport and car
sharing. Lack of access to opportunities is often cited as a barrier to
people taking up those opportunities, so by providing more information,
training and support it will provide citizens with the skills and
confidence to make journeys by sustainable transport which will help to
overcome this barrier.
• The Environment Directorate
Commissioning Plan also outlines public transport projects, road safety
projects, flood defence improvements, emergency planning and more and
can be downloaded in PDF form here: www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?siteid=6411&pageid=38110&e=e