Residents to have say on £5m road changes for town soon
RESIDENTS will soon have their say on a £5 million project to improve traffic flow on a main road through Hinckley and Burbage.
The major works on Rugby Road will redesign the areas around its junction with Hawley Road in Hinckley, next to the Lidl store which closed in August, and where it meets Brookside in Burbage.
A Leicestershire County Council spokesman said: “Preparations for the Rugby Road scheme consultation are ongoing and residents will be informed of its commencement in advance of its start date later this month.
“We’re still in the process of speaking to Lidl in order to acquire land from the store which is situated on the corner of Hawley Road.”
The authority previously said residents and stakeholders would be informed “well in advance” of the four-week consultation.
It originally set a start date of May 2019 for the works but they have now been pushed back until spring 2020. The council said in August preliminary designs on the junctions had been completed, alongside walking and cycling improvements.
A new left turn lane is planned on to Rugby Road from Hawley Road, while a new lane is also planned at the Brookside junction, with a second lane to be built southbound immediately after the Brookside junction in Burbage.
The county council was previously asked to clarify how widening the road would affect traffic levels, after a resident raised concerns it could worsen traffic in the area.
It said at the time: “Following a study we found congestion issues at the Rugby Road/ Brookside/Dudley
Rise junction was caused by vehicles trying to pass through the junction at the same time and not having the width of the road to do so.
“Making improvements will allow vehicles to pass through the junction more efficiently and reduce congestion for both peak and offpeak times. Overall, it was found the draft proposal, which includes improvements to the existing signal junction, offered the greatest benefits in terms of reducing delay and journey times.”
Funding for the package will include £3.5 million from the Government’s National Productivity Investment Fund and £1.5 million provided by county council. That section of Rugby Road could soon become a lot busier as a new retail park with seven units is being built there, with the entrance on a roundabout between the two junctions.
Heart of England Co-operative will be running the shopping hub as it invests £4.5 million in the site, which it hopes to have up and running by January 2020.
It will operate a convenience store in one of the units, with tenants including Greggs, Topps Tiles and Toolstation, as well as a tanning salon and charity donation centre.
The complex will include 53 car parking spaces, with construction works set to finish in November.