Roadworks set to bring safety improvements

COMMUTERS and Coupar Angus residents face up to two weeks of roadworks on one of the town’s busiest thoroughfares.

Contractors are set to make significant changes to a large stretch of the A923 Queen Street, between the A94 and Precinct Street.

Despite the disruption, the work is likely to be welcomed by locals who have been complaining for years about problems on that stretch of road.

Homes vibrate when tractors and other large vehicles try to negotiate the busy corner, often having to mount the pavement to pass oncoming traffic.

In addition, there have been a series of accidents and incidents, with a cyclist hit by a lorry in one and buildings clipped by a bus in another.

Per th and Kinross Council has been involved in consultation with community groups and householders for some time but has now finalised plans.

These include installing a priority give way system and widening pavements, which in the past have been described as “horrendously narrow”.

Pavements will be built out on both sides of the road so that traffic can only get through in one direction at a time.

The planned works reflect changes suggested by the community following meetings with the council’s roads network manager Charles Haggart.

It is hoped the improvements will have a significant impact upon safety and end years of frustration.

In the past, Coupar Angus and Bendochy Community Council has said it believed there was “no magic solution” to the Queen Street conundrum.

It has described the finalised plans as “far from perfect” but is understood to have backed the scheme on the condition that the narrowed section of road is wide enough for combine harvesters and other large vehicles to pass without mounting the pavement.

Wo r k w i l l b e g i n o n Monday and is likely to continue until March 12.