Welcome to Warwickshire County Council

Progress Updates 2010
27 August 2010 With the South Section of the Relief Road now having been open for about 2 months, there has been a noticeable reduction in the traffic flow through Cawston, Bilton and Lawford Road. This improvement is likely to be much more obvious within these areas as well as in the town centre of Rugby when the Northern Section of the road connecting Lawford Road to the Avon Mill Roundabout, is opened. The majority of the operations currently being carried out are referred to as finishing works. These include clearing all the drains, seeding the grass verges, and rectifying any snags that have come to light. Other on-going work includes the erection of a ball stop fence on the boundary with Avon Valley School and various landscaping works. The planting of the specially selected reeds in the balancing ponds to clean the water by absorbing heavy metals and other potential contaminants, will not be done until November. This is the appropriate time of year for these plants and will be after the road has been opened to traffic. It is not expected that this operation will cause any disruption to the traffic using the new road. Although a completion date has not yet being confirmed, it is hoped it will be in mid-September. Update: It has now been confirmed that the entire length of the new Rugby Western Relief Road (A4071) will open for motorists to use for the first time on Friday 10 September. The road will be open to the public from 4pm.		Lawford Road Junction approaching from the North Parkfield Road under railway bridge Looking south to Avon River Bridge Looking north from Avon River Bridge
29 June 2010 The south section of the Rugby Western Relief Road, ie between Potfords Dam Roundabout and Lawford Road was opened to traffic on June 18. It is now being well used, particularly by the Cemex lorries. Before this section was open, there was a charity fun run (see news item) and some students from Brooke School visited to walk much of its length. On the north section of the road, work has progressed well over recent weeks, helped by a long period of favourable weather. Between Lawford Road and Malpas Roundabout, most of the carriageway work is nearing completion with the exception of the area near to and over the tunnel that links quarries on each side of the road. The carriageway work associated with the new tee junction at Parkfield Road is now nearing completion. However there are still several outstanding operations to be done including the street lighting, signing, footway works, and landscaping. Work will soon commence on the tying in of the new Parkfield Road Link to the existing Parkfield Road. Unfortunately for a period of time there will be disruption to the parking facilities immediately outside some of the residences of Parkfield Road. The occupiers of these properties will be approached directly, as some of them will have to find alternative parking for a few weeks. The County Council apologises in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. It is planned to open the final section of the Relief Road in early October, but every effort is being made to bring this forward.		Southern section of new road now open to traffic Students from Brooke School walking the section of the new road, before it opened Carriageway work progressing near railway bridges on Parkfield Road Work nearing completion on Parkfield Road Tee Junction
6 May 2010 After a spell of favourable weather good progress throughout the works has been made. Between Sow Brook Bridge and Lawford Road, which is a stretch of road built on a 360m length of retaining wall, the drainage and kerbing work has been completed. The carriageway construction is being carried out and it is expected that within two weeks tarmac will be laid throughout this length. It is still hoped that by the end of June, the 4km length between Potfords Dam and Lawford Road will be open to the public. This will bring relief to Cawston and Bilton but no to the centre of Rugby. To mark the opening of the first section, a fun run/cycle ride, organized by the “Rugby Rotary Club” and “RP Fighting Blindness” will be held. North of Lawford Road, the drainage work is progressing well as is the service diversion work. This includes the re-lining of an existing foul sewer which is expected to be completed in about two week’s time. There is to be an amendment to the design of the Relief Road at the junction with Parkfield Road. Initially this was to be a roundabout but this is to be changed to a tee junction. The need for this amendment was brought about because of safety issues. Even though the roundabout was designed in accordance with the current Highway Design Standards, problems were identified at a safety audit carried out by an independent audit team. It was considered that the approach to the roundabout was at a gradient that was of sufficient steepness to represent a hazard to road users. This gradient was unavoidable as the road had to be lowered to go under one railway bridge but then within a short distance had to climb sharply to pass over another railway line. This also resulted in the tilt of the roundabout being steeper than desirable. The new tee junction will accommodate only a left in and left out facility. This will minimise traffic disruption and have the additional benefit of reducing the likelihood of the original Parkfield Road being used as a rat-run. The works involved with carrying out the amendments to this junction should not affect the anticipated completion date which is currently set for October 2010.		Carriageway construction progressing between Lawford Road And Sow Brook Looking north towards Sow Brook Bridge Formwork for pumping station Working on the Pumping Station and the lowering of Parkfield Road
3 March 2010 The length of carriageway from Potfords Dam to Cawston Roundabout is now complete. Between Cawston Roundabout and Bilton Lane there are remedial works and other minor finishing tasks such as erecting road signs and repairing damaged kerbs being undertaken. Between Bilton Lane and Sow Brooke Bridge, the lighting columns and signs are being erected. It is likely that this length of carriageway will be completely finished within by the end of March. On Sow Brooke Bridge the pavement surfacing and footway works have still to be done. From Sow Brooke to Lawford Road there is a 440m long reinforced earth retaining wall, which is now virtually complete though the earthworks still have to be done. As this is a weather dependant operation a start on this has been planned for 15th March when it is hoped that the ground conditions will drier. Upon completion of the earthworks the pavement and footway construction will commence. It is hoped that the from Potfords Dam to Lawford Road will be open to the public towards the end of spring. Lawford Road junction is progressing and the temporary road which was provided to enable the disused railway bridge and embankments to be taken down has now been brought of service. Various finishing works and kerbing around the tie-ins and junction with Paynes Lane and will be carried out in the next month. This may result in the need for traffic management on Lawford Road and cause some delays, but it is expected that this will be a lot less severe than the congestion experienced around Avon Mill Roundabout in early February. The construction of the tunnel and nearby retaining walls on the existing Parkfield Road is nearing completion. Service diversions are currently being carried out and these will have to be completed before the finishing works to the carriageway can be carried out. It is currently anticipated that the scheme will be totally open to the public in October of this year.		Lawford Road Junction, with temporary road brought out of service Lighting columns installed around Bilton Lane Work progressing on the retaining walls of Cemex Quarry
Progress Updates 2009 - Part 2