Work on crossings near high school well under way
SIX weeks of roadworks are under way to install pedestrian and cycle crossings near a Runcorn high school.
Halton Borough Council said the project began on May 16 and is due to end by around July 1.
The project’s goal is to create a pedestrian and cycling crossing point across Barnfield Avenue, close to the junction with the busway and Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy.
A Halton Council spokeswoman said the scheme will also widen waiting areas for people on foot, install push button signal boxes, and cycle lanes along the busway verges.
Although there has been no official statement to suggest the two are connected, the project is taking place just over six years on since a group of Year 5 pupils at Murdishaw West Primary School wrote to the council asking for a zebra crossing at that location to improve safety for children.
Assisted by teacher Laura Dyer, the youngsters even put their calls to Town Hall chiefs on the local authority’s environment and urban renewal board in November 2015.
At that time a council officer recommended turning down the project.
The reason given and published in a meeting agenda report back in 2015 was: “Experience has shown that where signals have been installed where they are generally only required for very specific and short times of the day, they can become dangerous as drivers become accustomed to passing along the road without stopping and hence they may either fail to stop when they need to or stop suddenly.”
Councillors committed, however, to considering whether to install crossing button boxes, and to reviewing signs and markings.
In 2020, the council was awarded £200,000 in “active travel” funding by the Government to support schemes to boost cycling and walking, and one of the resulting projects was the creation of a cycleway between Halton Hospital and Murdishaw - the subject of the current roadworks.
A council spokeswoman said: “We are installing parallel crossings across Barnfield Avenue to allow for both pedestrians and cyclists as part of new active travel works.
“The waiting areas for the crossing will be widened to three metres from the front of the kerb with red blister tactile paving installed.
“The signals are also being upgraded with push buttons installed for the crossing points on Barnfield Avenue.
“This will link the footpaths from The Hove and Compass Close to both pedestrian footpaths down the busway and along Barnfield Avenue to the school.
“The crossing points across the busway will remain with yellow tactile paving.
“Cycle lanes are also being constructed on the existing verges that will link the crossing with the rest of the scheme heading towards Halton Hospital and Murdishaw.”