A40 London Road improvement work in High Wycombe to start on Monday 7th October 2019

Gomm Road to London Road junction improvements. (Image supplied by Buckinghamshire County Council)

Improvement work on the A40 London Road in High Wycombe is due to start on Monday 7th October 2019.

The work will include upgrades to key junctions along the A40 London Road in High Wycombe with the aim of helping to reduce congestion and improve traffic flows start.

The £6.6m package of improvement work will eventually cover the stretch of road from Easton Street to Loudwater and will include improvements at the Gordon Road, Hatters Lane, Micklefield Road with Ryemead Way and Gomm Road junctions.

There will also be changes to bus lanes, the introduction of dedicated turning lanes and improvements to pedestrian crossings and traffic lights.

The first phase of construction, starting on Monday 7th October 2019, will centre around the Gomm Road junction and run for five weeks. It is planned to build on the technological improvements already made in the area and will including new CCTV, variable message boards and queue detection sensors.

When all works are fully completed later in 2020 it will mean better and more reliable journeys for all who use the key A40 London Road route in and out of the town centre as well as an expectation to help improve air quality in this part of the town.

During the consultation period on the improvement scheme a total of 125 responses were received, the consultation also included a public exhibition held on Thursday 20th June 2019.

Buckinghamshire County Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport, Mark Shaw, said: ‘We all know High Wycombe is a busy place, particularly the A40 corridor and judging by my postbag, people were very keen to see something significant done.

It’s been a great effort to get over £4 million in government funding, especially considering bids came in from all over the country. And, with the further £2.5m from local transport board funding through the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, we’ve been able to make a further serious investment in High Wycombe’s infrastructure.

We are starting works on [Monday] 7 October [2019] and expect to finish in summer 2020. While this is quite a long time, there’s a lot to do. We will be working hard to avoid causing too many delays by working at off-peak and night times for the vast majority of work. I hope people will bear with us and if there are delays, please accept my apologies – this will be short term pain for much longer gain.‘

Chief Executive of the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Richard Harrington, said: ‘This is a much needed investment in the local highway and transport infrastructure to improve connectivity along this important corridor. In particular, reducing congestion, improving journey time reliability and supporting the local economy as part of this growing town.

The LEP has supported a reallocation of £2.5m of Local Growth Funds which, in turn, helped to lever an additional £4.1m grant from the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund. We now really look forward to the scheme being completed.‘

Further information on the A40 London Road improvement project and any expected delays can be found  by visiting the Buckinghamshire County Council website and signing up to the regular e-bulletin via the web page at www.buckscc.gov.uk/A40LondonRoad.

The traffic management arrangements for the project in detail are as follows :

• The works at this junction involve replacing the permanent traffic lights. Three-way temporary traffic lights, which will be in place during the five weeks of works, will replicate the existing signals to minimise traffic delays.
• Works affecting traffic flows, including removal of the traffic island, installation of new ducting and white lining, will reduce the number of lanes available. These will be undertaken at night, between 7.00pm and 6.00am to minimise traffic delays, with no loud works after 11.00pm.
• Daytime works will be on the footways only and will undertaken between 8.00am and 4.30pm.

*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire County Council.