Work on a Transport for Norwich scheme to reduce the number of accidents at a major roundabout in the city begin next week.
From Monday (3 June), construction of the Norwich City and Norfolk County Council cycle safety scheme at Earlham Fiveways gets underway.
The project will see the roundabout’s central island resized and existing signalled crossings on three of the approaching roads upgraded to Toucan crossings, which allow both pedestrians and cyclists to cross safely.
As well as improved street lighting and the addition of traffic islands on the four busiest arms, a new raised table and 20mph speed limit will be put in place on Gypsy Lane.
Funding of nearly £700,000 for the work was awarded by the Department for Transport through their Cycle City Ambition grant in a pot of money allocated for projects to improve road safety for cyclists.
Councillor Mike Stonard, Norwich City Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for the Transport for Norwich partnership, says: “This work is specifically to address road safety issues in the Earlham Road area. It’s in direct response to higher-than-average accident records at the Fiveways roundabout, which show cyclists to be at highest risk of personal injury.
“It’s important that we continue to source DfT funding for projects like this, which significantly improve major cycle routes and hopefully encourage less confident cyclists to take to the road more regularly.
“We apologise that there will be disruption while the changes take place and would like to thank everyone for their patience. This has been programmed so most of the work will be over the school and university summer holidays to help reduce the impact.”
From the start of work, there will be road closures in place at the Earlham Fiveways junctions with Gypsy Lane, Bluebell Road and Earlham Green Lane until the project is completed at the end of August. Earlham Road will be open to through traffic across the roundabout, as usual.
Full details of the project and more details of traffic management, including diversion routes, is available at www.norfolk.gov.uk/earlhamroad.
A further £1m of DfT Cycle City Ambition funding was given to improvements along the Earlham Road green pedalway as part of the same grant award. More information on this scheme will follow.
Some additional funding towards the projects are from Norfolk County Council’s safety scheme budget, as well as local developer contributions.
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