Green light expected for plan to build new junction
● COUNCILLORS were poised last night to approve a £9.61m project to demolish a major Runcorn highway and build a junction in its place as part of longterm plans to regenerate Runcorn town centre.
A full session of Halton Council was due to meet at Runcorn Town Hall last night to decide whether to back the local authority’s ‘preferred option’ for delinking the Silver Jubilee Bridge (SJB).
If approved, the Runcorn loop road linking Bridgewater and Weston Point expressways with the SJB would be demolished for £1.61m, the parapet wall would be replaced at a cost of £1.9m and a roundabout junction would be built for around £6.1m.
The preferred option has been tabled ahead of three variations of proposed smaller-scale works ranging between doing nothing and a ‘dominimum plus’ option which would cost £4.51m and include placing a three-way traffic light junction on Greenway Road.
A report published ahead of last night’s meeting said not doing anything would still require £1.49m and £2.6m in maintenance.
Halton Council has said that demolishing the full loop will create more space for the proposed Station Quarter redevelopment and make the town centre more inviting and accessible to rail passengers, as well as improving the view of the area.
The proposals have previously featured in Weekly News coverage of the local authority’s Runcorn Vision document, which outlines the general town centre plans for the next 10-15 years.
The report said development consultancy Mott MacDonald has been commissioned to work out how much the works could cost.