Works on £5.7million traffic and travel plan in Boston reach midway point

The £5.7million project began at the busy roundabout back in May – and is expected to be completed by mid December.

Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: "Our first two ‘Levelling Up’ projects are continuing to go well. In fact, we're now past the midway point for both.

"Since starting in May, the team has widened the western side of the roundabout at its approach from the A16 heading northbound. We’ve also laid nearly two football pitch-lengths worth of new kerbing and installed twenty new street lighting columns.

“On top of that, we’ve finished upgrading the traffic signals at the Marsh Lane / Wyberton Low Road junction so all legs are now Toucan crossings. This was a big piece of work that meant installing nine new signal heads with overhead detection, tactile paving and fifteen new underground chambers.

"We've also had BT Openreach on-site to divert over a quarter-mile of their underground services so they fit with the new design of the roundabout and road layout.”

Below are some additional facts and figures about the project to date:

• A quarter-mile of new underground street lighting ducts installed

• Over 1,000 tonnes of road building material used for carriageway widening and nearly 200 tonnes used for new shared footway/cycleway

• Fifteen new drainage gullies installed

• Five new underground Openreach chambers built

Coun Davies added: "Now that we've passed the halfway point, one of the next steps is to lay new road surfacing, which will involve some overnight closures. However, the details of these are still being finalised, but we will share the dates and times as soon as they're confirmed.

"In addition to that, the team will also be focusing on widening the eastern side of the roundabout and continuing improvements to active travel links near Wyberton Low Road.

“There will inevitably be some disruption during this second half of the projects, mainly due to the need to close most of the roads affected for final surfacing. This comes part and parcel of major road improvements so we hope everyone will continue bearing with us.”

Below is an overview of upcoming traffic management associated with the two projects:

• Road closure on Wyberton Low Road from Tuesday 8 August for four evenings, 7pm to 7am

• Temporary traffic signals on Marsh Lane to carry out trial holes to locate the gas pipe and water main from Monday 14 August for four evenings, 7pm to 7am

• Temporary traffic signals and convoy working on Marsh Lane (for road resurfacing) 7pm to 7am during weekend dates in September to October from Saturday evening to Monday morning (exact dates to be confirmed)

• Road closure on A16 from mid-October to mid-November (for final road resurfacing)

• Southbound closure on London Road for footway widening from mid-November to mid-December

In addition to the upcoming traffic management above, current/ongoing traffic management includes lane closures and temporary traffic signals as needed on the A16, Marsh Lane and Wyberton Low Road.

Both projects are being funded by a portion of the £20m in ‘Levelling Up’ funding awarded to the county council in October 2021.