By james art 
Get the latest updates on Stratford’s Birmingham Road Improvement Scheme.
Warwickshire County Council has advised that its contractors working on the first stage of Phase 2 of the Birmingham Road Improvements Scheme will be bringing in an additional crew of workers to speed up the work and get Birmingham Road back up and running as soon as possible .
The move follows recent announcements that traffic management will be temporarily removed ahead of the two MOP events held in the town recently and that Stratford Park and Ride will offer free parking at its site until the end of November 2024 to help visitors to avoid queues during roadworks and relieve some of the traffic pressure towards the city centre.
Cllr Tim Sinclair, Warwickshire County Council member for Stratford North, said: “The news that even more staff are in place making it more likely that the works will be completed on time is great news.
“I understand people are asking why the WCC didn’t just add extra bodies at the start of the scheme. Unfortunately, the limited resources available mean that they cannot commit to this level of funding all the time; they need to see how a job is progressing and reallocate funding when it’s most needed.
“However, speaking to local residents and businesses, I felt we had reached the point where we needed to look at solutions to speed up the work and over the last two or three weeks the Council has done that. We will continue to monitor the situation and listen to residents and businesses to get a full picture of what is happening. Where possible, if amending the works can bring significant benefits, I believe that’s what they should do.”
Work done in the last two weeks
Over the next week, the team will work on the outside of the road,
The Phase 2 works are taking place at the northern end of the Birmingham Road, from just north of St Peter’s Way to the A46 Bishopton Roundabout. This work will include a new 3m wide shared footpath and cycleway on the entrance side to Buckingham Way, connecting with the existing, widened footpath.
A new level crossing will also be installed between Buckingham Way and Worths Way and traffic priority will be changed to two lanes into the city and one out.
The outbound side will include a new shared pedestrian and cycle lane from Squirrels Street, connecting with the existing footpath on Worths Way. A new shed will replace the existing stop.
More information about this scheme can be found online:https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/birminghamroadstratford