Council to open roads in Shrewsbury ahead of schedule

Shropshire County Council is getting ready to open St Mary’s Street and Dogpole in Shrewsbury this Friday (23 May), over a week earlier than expected.

Teams have worked tirelessly to open these roads before the Bank Holiday rush and half-term break, to encourage more people into the town and boost trade.

During the seven weeks substantial improvements have been made, providing wider pavements and enhanced paving, adding to the previous phases of the enhancement scheme. It is hoped that this will create a better experience for local people and visitors to the town.

This final stage of the town centre enhancement scheme has also included a trial to reduce traffic travelling through the historic town. This will be considered in detail before any future plans are developed.

Castle Gates and Castle Street will revert back to their original layout this Friday. Town Walls will remain reversed until 1 June.

John Everall, Shropshire County Council’s Cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said: “We’d like to thank everyone for their patience during this important work, and we hope that now the work is completed, people will start to enjoy the more pedestrian-friendly environment.

“We have always endeavoured to complete the scheme as soon as possible, and opening the roads up one week early is a credit to the teams involved. I’d like to thank our consultants and contractors for the way they have worked to deliver a high-quality scheme as quickly as possible.”

Additional information

Work on the enhancement scheme started in January 2007 and included work to improve Castle Gates, Castle Street, St Mary’s Street, Dogpole and Wyle Cop.

Work to resurface the roads

To complete this enhancement scheme, work will need to be carried out to resurface these streets. This work will take place over three weekends, the first of which was last weekend (17 and 18 May) as part of the existing road closure.

The following weekends, 31 May and 1 June, and 7 June and 8 June, will require road closures, and work will take place on Saturday evenings from 7.00pm through to Sunday, as soon as the work is completed.

Town Walls will remain reversed until late on Sunday 1 June. It will then revert back to its original layout.

The roads will remain open up until 7.00pm on Saturdays, to avoid peak travel times and minimise disruption.

21 May 2008