Work begins to upgrade crossing on Salisbury city centre street
It should be finished in just under a month
Work to upgrade the pelican crossing on Exeter Street in Salisbury has begun.
It started yesterday (Monday 21st February) and will be completed in two phases over the next four weeks.
The first part runs until Sunday (28th February) and to avoid clashing with resurfacing work on Ivy Street, phase two starts on March 7th and finishes on March 17th.
The pelican crossing will now become a puffin crossing, to make it safer for pedestrians.
The improvements will see the replacement of the current signal-controlled crossing, which has come to the end of its life.
At the same time, the council will also widen the footway on each side of the road to make it safer for people to use the crossing and improve the drainage.
Temporary traffic lights will be put in place to make sure work can be completed safely.
Residents may experience some noise and disruption, and some on-street parking may be unavailable, while the work is ongoing.
Cllr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, said:
"This equipment has come to the end of its life, so we're taking this opportunity to replace it with a new system, while also improving the drainage and widening the pavement to make it safer for pedestrians to use the crossing.
"We particularly want to take this opportunity to make the crossing safer for pupils at Bishop Wordsworth's School, who use the crossing to reach the two campuses, often in large numbers at once.
"Once the works are complete, the widening of the pavement will not affect the on-street parking on Exeter Street or the flow of traffic as there will still be sufficient room for two lanes of traffic, just as there is currently.
"We apologise for any inconvenience or delays caused by these works and look forward to an improved crossing being in place later in March."