Bedford Borough Council has confirmed that works will be complete on Manton Lane by the end of this week (Friday 3 April), but other projects will be halted due to the coronavirus crisis.
The Manton Lane roadworks began 18 months ago and include improvements to the existing traffic lights to make traffic flow better, to create a new junction to ease the movement of school traffic and road widening to create more space for traffic to move.
The completion of these works is the first phase in a wider £18m Transporting Bedford 2020 scheme.
However, following Government instructions for slowing the spread of COVID-19, works by contractors on Britannia Road will be halted as soon as the site can be made safe.
The next phase of works on Britannia Road involves tasks where social distancing measures cannot be fully followed.
As soon as the Government guidelines allow, the Council will begin improvements to Paula Radcliffe Way / Great Ouse Way roundabout, and to put signals on the Clapham Road / Manton Lane roundabout, to make traffic flow better at these junctions.
The timing of these works is also subject to Network Rail completing their works on Bromham Road Bridge.
Cllr Charles Royden, Portfolio Holder for Transport said, “It is great news that the works on Manton Lane will be completed this week.
“This has been a huge piece of work to deliver real improvements to a congestion hotspot in our town.
“It is disappointing that contractors can no longer work on completing Britannia Road but we must follow the Government requirements for the safety of our staff, our contractors and the public.
“As soon as we can, we will get works happening on this site again and move onto the next phases of the Transporting Bedford project.”
The Transporting Bedford project is an £18million investment to ease congestion, funded by both Bedford Borough Council and £15.5 million from the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership, through the Local Growth Fund and represents the largest ever investment in Bedford’s roads.
