Hampshire County Council has appointed Knights Brown Construction Ltd to construct the scheme which is due to start in October.
Works will include the construction of a new bus priority entrance onto the Marchwood Bypass, new bus shelters on the Bypass at the Hounsdown Business Park, a new 300 metre bus lane, enhanced cycle and pedestrian facilities, and a refreshed crossing point at Rushington Roundabout. Safety improvements will also be carried out to Rushington Roundabout itself.
This work is being undertaken as part of the Department for Transport (DfT) funded Transforming Cities Programme, with additional funding from the DfT’s Safer Roads fund. The total package of works is valued at £4.371 million.
Councillor Nick Adams-King, the County Council’s Executive Lead Member for Universal Services, said: “This is a key route for local communities along the Waterside and these improvements build on our ambitions to support the local economy by providing better transport links. Those travelling by bus will enjoy better service and journey time reliability, and the completed scheme will also make it more enjoyable and safer to cycle and walk in the area.
“Delivering a scheme of this scale will have significant benefits to the local community but will involve some short-term disruption - I would therefore like to thank everyone in advance for their patience and understanding whilst these improvement works are underway. We will be making every effort to keep disruption to a minimum.”
The scheme is part of a series of travel improvements in the area with work due soon on improvements to cycleways and footpaths between Eling and Holbury which will connect to the existing Southampton City Council Cycle Network “SCN” route 1.
The work will be undertaken in phases and is estimated to be completed by Summer 2024.
Construction Phase 1: October 2023 – early 2024
The first phase of construction will begin with works on Marchwood Bypass close to Rushington Roundabout. These works will focus on:
• Upgrading the existing crossing point at Rushington Roundabout into a shared use crossing point for pedestrians and cyclists;
• Widening of the existing shared use footways and cycleways;
• Construction of a new 300m bus lane on Marchwood Bypass at the approach to Rushington Roundabout.
Information on the remaining phases planned next year will be provided nearer the time. These further phases will include the bus priority lane on Marchwood Bypass and other road safety improvements at Rushington Roundabout.
Traffic management
Works will take place from Monday to Friday. Permitted working hours will be between 9:30am to 4pm for the duration of the scheme.
To facilitate safe road works, while keeping the traffic flowing as freely as possible, the following temporary traffic management will be in place during the works:
• A temporary pedestrian crossing at the Marchwood Bypass approach to Rushington Roundabout;
• Temporary lane closure of Totton Bypass on the approach to Rushington Roundabout;
• Temporary lane closure of Marchwood Bypass southbound on the exit from Rushington Roundabout;
• Temporary lane closures in place for Marchwood Bypass and Totton Bypass.
Christmas Arrangements
During the busy Christmas period, the extent of traffic management will be reduced to lane narrowing and off-road working from late November until early January 2024.
Access to local businesses will be maintained throughout the works.
Plans of the work, traffic management and diversions along with further information and updates about the scheme are available at the County Council web pages:
https://bit.ly/marchwood-bypass-bus-priority-improvements
https://bit.ly/rushington-roundabout-bus-priority-improvements
The County Council, in partnership with Southampton City Council, submitted a successful bid to the Department for Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund for £57 million which, together with developer contributions, will pay for these schemes.
For more information about the South West Hampshire Transforming Cities Fund schemes visit: https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/transportschemes/tcfsouthampton
