£9m Of Residential Road Improvements In Reading Begin In October
WORK to resurface hundreds of residential roads in Reading will begin on 2 October, with roads in the first phase of the scheme revealed today.
Reading Borough Council is committing £9m to road and footway improvement work, which will see up to a third of Reading’s roads completely resurfaced. The first 63 roads to be improved under the scheme will be completed by the end of March 2021. Hundreds more roads across Reading will benefit from surfacing improvements taking place over the next three years in response to residents’ calls for better roads. A Citizens Panel survey conducted by the Council in November 2018 revealed that over 50% of respondents listed ‘better roads and pavements’ as top of their lists for improvements, and the Council has responded with the biggest programme of resurfacing it has ever undertaken. The £9m investment from Reading Borough Council is focused on residential side roads, and will complement additional resurfacing work funded by the Department of Transport on major arterial routes throughout the Borough. Reading Borough Council is hoping that from March, dependent on social distancing rules, it will be able to operate a new and novel engagement programme. This will allow local residents to find out more about the programme on selected roads by meeting the team doing the resurfacing, learning how the process works and discovering how this fits into the wider scheme of road improvements across the borough. Cllr Tony Page, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Member for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport, said:
The first phase of the road improvement scheme will be undertaken by our contractor Eurovia Infrastructure Ltd. Advance notice boards will go up on the roads to be resurfaced and residents will receive a letter 2-3 days before the work is carried out. Roads will be closed between 8am and 5pm for the improvements to safely take place, with cars needing to vacate the roads in advance. Any parked vehicles will be liable for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and will be removed. After a 1-2 week period when the roads will seem rough and gravelly whilst they are left to settle, the roads will be closed again so the contractor can return to sweep the road and paint the road markings on the new surface, leaving smooth new residential road surfaces across the borough. The roads to be resurfaced in the first phase of the scheme (October 2020 – March 2021), listed by ward, are: Ward Road Abbey Newport Road Abbey Sackville Street Abbey Princes Street Abbey Lynmouth Road Abbey Baker Street (Russell St-Prospect St) Abbey/Park Sun Street Battle Elm Lodge Avenue Battle Sherwood Street Battle Alma Street Battle Dorset Street Battle Belmont Road Battle Cambridge Street Battle Cannon Street Caversham Paddock Road Caversham Piggotts Road Caversham Wolsey Road Caversham Hemdean Rise Caversham The Slopes Caversham Falkland Road Caversham Hemdean Hill Church Barnsdale Road Church Modbury Gardens Church Poplar Gardens Church Hollydale Close Church Torrington Road Church Wentworth Avenue Katesgrove Elgar Road South Katesgrove Canterbury Road Katesgrove Edgehill Street Katesgrove Clent Road Kentwood Cranbourne Gardens Kentwood Hartslock Way Mapledurham Upper Warren Avenue Minster Brownlow Road Minster Brunswick Street Minster Boston Avenue Minster Castle Crescent Minster Westcote Road Norcot Taff Way Norcot / Southcote / Tilehurst New Lane Hill Norcot/Battle Waverley Road Park Grange Avenue Park Pitcroft Avenue Park Manchester Road Park Norris Road Park St Edwards Road Peppard Eric Avenue Peppard Cavendish Road Peppard/Thames Chiltern Road Redlands Addington Road Redlands Denmark Road Southcote Southcote Lane Southcote Circuit Lane Thames Haldane Road Thames Newlands Avenue Thames Peppard Road (Service Road in front of 13 to 45) Tilehurst Corwen Road Tilehurst Crescent Road Tilehurst Elmstone Drive Whitley Vernon Crescent Whitley Chagford Road Whitley Honiton Road Whitley Swallowfield DriveThe views of our residents are of paramount importance to us, and something that came through clearly from them was a desire for better roads in the town. Despite challenging times economically, we are delighted to reveal that tens of thousands of our residents, in hundreds of streets and across all wards, will benefit from our £9m residential road improvement scheme which begins on 2 October”.