Warwickshire County Council and key strategic partners Coventry City Council and Warwick District Council have announced the start of major improvement works to the A46 Stoneleigh Junction, following a contract award to Colas-SIAC Limited.
The £38m scheme will be funded by Warwickshire County Council, The Department for Transport, the West Midlands Combined Authority with developer contributions from the University of Warwick and Whitley South Works through the Coventry & Warwickshire Development Partnership.
The works between Kenilworth and Coventry will include a new bridge across the A46, and realigned slip roads forming the basis of a new signalised gyratory system. The aim of the scheme is to reduce the regular delays and queueing traffic, improve road safety for all users and ensure the junction has the capacity that will be required in the future.
Cllr Jeff Clarke, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Planning at Warwickshire County Council welcomed the new scheme: “These works will bring real improvements to the experiences of local residents and commuters who use the A46 and the nearby roads that very frequently suffer from congestion.
“The existing junction can no longer cope with the levels of traffic and future development will only make this worse.
“As Warwickshire looks to make an economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to be sure that we remain an excellent place to do business. This scheme will bring much needed capacity into the network and ensure that local businesses have the transport infrastructure that they need.
Cllr John Cooke, Portfolio Holder for Development at Warwick District Council, said; “As our district starts to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are very pleased to see the start of this strategically important traffic scheme. The new road system will not only improve access to Warwick University and the adjacent business parks, but will also encourage more cycling by reducing traffic volumes on the surrounding routes.”
Roads Minister, Baroness Vere, said: “I am delighted that works to the A46 are starting this month. The project, backed by £19m in Government investment, will help ease congestion and improve safety along the route. It will also provide people with better access to local businesses, help people access job opportunities, and support housing and development sites in the area.
“This Government is committed to levelling up transport infrastructure across the country and these works will make a very real difference to the everyday lives of people in Coventry and Warwickshire as we look to build back better.”
Nick Abell, chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “This is an important infrastructure scheme that will ease traffic congestion in the short, medium and long-term as we lay the foundations for future growth.
“It is important we keep the area moving and remain an attractive place to entice inward investors as well as deliver schemes which will help economic growth to return to Coventry and Warwickshire.”
Main works will commence in November 2020 with the construction of the site offices and works compound, and are programmed to be complete in Summer 2022. Preliminary works have been undertaken over the last few months. The project will be delivered in four phases, with each phase having been designed to minimise traffic management time on the road network and impact on road users. One of these phases will see the bridge deck lifted in via an SPMT arrangement, again to minimise impact on road users.
Colas UK Projects Executive Director Sean Jeffery said: “Our well established Colas-SIAC partnership are looking forward to getting started on this major project that will see the team deliver a new bridge, as well as significant junction improvements, increasing traffic capacity for the Stoneleigh junction on the A46. Alongside this, the project will also provide local employment and training opportunities”
