£5.23 million road scheme for Birchwood

TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington are to be recommended to approve a £5.23 million junction improvement scheme designed to unlock underused sites and land in the Birchwood employment area.
The area currently employs more than 20,000 people but has become a victim of its own success with traffic congestion and accessibility being consistently highlighted as the key constraint on growth and investment.
If approved by the borough council’s executive board, the scheme will consist of three element.
*Junction improvement at the Moss Gate roundabout – the junction of Moss Gate, Birchwood Way and Daten Avenue – by conversion to a traffic signal controlled junction.
*Part signalisation of the George Duckworth roundabout at Birchwood Way/Oakwood Gate – known locally as the Dog Bone roundabout.
*Construction of a bus-only link from Ordnance Avenue to Faraday Street.
A report from Cllr Hans Mundry, the council’s lead member for highways and transportation, to be considered by the executive board states that individually the three schemes all have merit in terms of improved network efficiency, reduced traffic congestion and improved bus journey times.
Collectively they have a benefit to cost ratio of 7.3 – which means for every £1 invested there is an economic return of £7.30.
“This makes it a very high value scheme,” the report states.
A consultation exercise has produced positive support, with 70 per cent of people who took part in an online questionnaire in favour of the proposals.
If approved, work should start in the middle of next month – and council officers are in advanced discussions with the owners of Birchwood Park, who have renewed a pledge of financial support in the order of £1.1 million.
However, the overall scheme costs are higher than originally expected because of complexity of the three projects, difficult ground conditions, a complicated network of utilities, larger excavations and a general increase in labour costs and materials due to a buoyant market in favour of contractors.