The A259 Temporary cycle lane extension scheme will once again be put in front of councillors at the Environment, Transport & Sustainability committee next Tuesday to decide if the scheme should go ahead following the TRO consultation that took place last month.
There were a few objections to the scheme, mostly regarding traffic, parking & disabled access, however the scheme is likely to go ahead as these issues have been mitigated.
In the report the cost of the scheme has also been released. It is now due to cost £475,000, when initially in 2020 only £171,000 was bidded for and awarded. However since the scheme has creeped up from being a temporary reallocated of 1 lane of traffic to being a much more complex scheme involving footway widening, adjusting pedestrians crossing signals, remarking all lanes, rebuilding some junctions & providing bus stop bypasses, the scheme is now costing over double what was initially predicted. Also the scheme has grown from a cheap temporary intermediate solution to a more expensive long term, but bad solution which has taken a lot longer to develop & approve due to over 4 consultation periods.
Of the £475,000, only £171,000 will be funded by the Active Travel Scheme Fund awarded at the end of 2020, the rest will have to come from Local Transport Plan (LTP)
