Member Article

Newcastle Council announce major £4 million Cowgate roadworks set to begin

Newcastle City Council have announced that major roadworks to improve Cowgate Roundabout will start on Monday 19 January.

The roadworks by the council are part of £4 million of improvements to one of the key junctions into the city-centre. They are expected to last until Autumn 2015.

The roadworks by Newcastle City Council are part of £4 million of improvements to one of the key junctions into the city-centre. They are expected to last until Autumn 2015.

To minimise disruption to motorists, the council will aim to only close lanes during off-peak hours except where absolutely necessary and during quiet periods such as school holidays when traffic is lightest - keeping Newcastle’s roads and motorists moving.

The roundabout is used by thousands of motorists daily and one of the main routes into the city-centre.

The council are investing heavily in this key junction to speed up journey times, reduce congestion and help improve access to and from the city.

Major improvements that are planned are:

• changing the road layout by making one large junction from the existing roundabout and mini-roundabout to reduce congestion and collisions
• putting in better and joined up signalling to increase the smooth flow of traffic and reduce journey times
• making priority lanes for buses to help speed up public transport
• removing the unpopular subway and replacing it with street-level and signalised crossings - making it easier and safer to cross the junction
• providing better access to local shops and services including Morrisons supermarket.
• creating dedicated and direct cycle routes through the junction making it safer for cyclists
• revised slip road to access lower Cowgate and shops from A167

Council teams have been on site since October, doing preparatory work to the roundabout such as widening pavement but they are now moving onto the main phase of works on the carriageway to create one large junction and removing the subway. The first stage of this work will focus on the northbound carriageway.

Cabinet Member for Investment and Development at Newcastle City Council, Councillor Ged Bell, said: “Cowgate Roundabout is one of the main routes into our city-centre and across the city, but this busy junction has many issues with congestion, safety and poor signalling that we want to put right which is why we are carrying out this work.

“We appreciate Cowgate is a heavily-used route and whilst there may be some delays while works are underway, we plan to minimise any disruption by only closing lanes during off-peak hours where possible.

“This means that the work will last longer, but we will be able to keep traffic moving during peak hours, reducing the level of disruption.

“When these works are complete it will be better, safer and easier for everyone to get around so we are asking the public to please bear with us during these key improvements.”

The work is part of a wider ambitious five-year plan of the council to modernise and upgrade Newcastle’s highways so they meet the needs of the city long into the future.

The transport plan is based on the following 3 changes:

• making it easier to go around the city with major investment in the A1 and A19
• Making it easier to go across the city with congestion-busting alterations to key junctions
• Making it easier to travel within the city-centre for people to shop and get around