Work completed on Shrewsbury's Northern Gateway

Work to upgrade pavements, cycle paths and crossings, and improve traffic flows began on 17 September 2012, and was carried out in two phases.

The work on Chester Street, Cross Street, Castle Foregate and Howard Street, included resurfacing, new paving, construction of a new bus lay-by on Smithfield Road and the lighting of the railway bridges to improve personal safety and appearance.

New and upgraded pedestrian and cycle crossing facilities on Chester Street, St Michael’s Street and Castle Foregate – with seven new crossing points were also installed. Wider, shared-use pavements on Chester Street and Castle Foregate were installed along with traffic signals at three junctions, with new technology to optimise traffic flows.

Detection equipment and early warning signs for high vehicles approaching the town centre on Ellesmere Road was also installed to preventing bridge strikes.

Work completed on Shrewsbury Northern Gateway

Shropshire Council’s consultants, Mouchel, designed and supervised the scheme, and construction work has been carried out by Fitzgerald Contractors Ltd.
Keith Jones, Shropshire Council’s senior highways engineer, said:

“This is a major approach to the town centre, and this work will make it a far more attractive, pleasant and safer environment, with better lighting and paving, wider pavements, more safe crossings for pedestrians, improved traffic flow and better traffic signals.

“This important project has already made a huge difference to the appearance of the Chester Street area. Now that work is completed, drivers, pedestrians and cyclists really will see the full benefits of the work.

“This has been a challenging site to work on so close to the town centre, but the council and our contractors have worked hard to minimise any disruption and maintain access to the town for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, and we thank people for bearing with us while work has been carried out.”