£5m plan to reduce Birchwood congestion and grow economy

An ambitious new scheme to reduce traffic congestion and improve road safety, while helping local economic growth and attracting investment, is set to commence in the Birchwood area of Warrington.
Warrington Borough Council has approved the delivery of the £5.23 million Warrington East phase 1 project. The funding will improve three of the junctions along Birchwood Way (A574), to combat a long standing traffic congestion issues along this corridor.
The scheme will reduce journey times for travellers, along with improving accessibility and safety for pedestrians, and cyclists. The congestion alleviation  proposals include improvements to the Oakwood Gate ‘Dog bone’, converting the Moss Gate roundabout to signals, as well as the introduction of a bus link at Faraday Street roundabout which will provide a bus only link to Ordnance Avenue andl reduce journey times for passengers.
The project has been made possible thanks to funding secured by the Council as part of the Growth Deal for Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), together with a contribution from Birchwood Park. The Council will be contributing around £2m towards the total cost from the Council’s capital programme, with the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership matching with the same level of funding.
Councillor Hans Mundry, (pictured) executive member for Highways, Transportation and Public Realm, said:  “This is a very important and high profile transport project which we are really pleased to be able to deliver for the people of Warrington. It will help to protect and create jobs, and make travelling so much more pleasant.
“The Growth Deal funding shows the value of working with the Local Enterprise Partnership and bodes well for future bids for other transport schemes.”
The main contract is expected to start this July and finish in February 2016.Balfour Beatty have been appointed as the contractor for the project. They will be managed by a project team consisting of council officers from the Transport for Warrington service and design consultants Mott MacDonald.
Christine Gaskell, Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP, added: “Birchwood Park is home to 165 thriving and successful businesses including a nationally important cluster of businesses that are key to Britain’s nuclear power station building programme. Increased traffic levels are a sign of its success, so the Local Enterprise Partnership is delighted to be using some of the Local Growth Deal funding that it has received from the Government to help tackle the congestion problems, improving the working day of people commuting to and from the Park and laying the foundations for Birchwood’s continued economic success”.