Major scheme to improve “crumbling” road to begin

Work is to begin next week on a highways scheme to upgrade a major arterial route in and out of Liverpool city centre.

Improvement works along Prescot Road (A57) will begin on Monday, 18 February, and will run from Low Hill, near the Royal Liverpool Hospital, to Newton Road by Newsham Park. The first phase will start between Shiel Road and Laurel Road.

The £3.5m scheme, which will run until the Autumn, will consist of replacing the existing road surface, which has deteriorated over the years, and upgrading highway drainage, pedestrian facilities, footways and traffic signals.

The work forms part of Liverpool City Council’s £500m highway investment programme – Better Roads – in conjunction with the council’s commitment “to deliver a strong and growing city” and provide a “connected and accessible city with quality infrastructure”, as set out in the Inclusive Growth Plan.

The successful tenderer for this scheme, Huyton Asphalt, will carry out the programme which will involve lane closures, diversionary routes, night working, temporary traffic lights and off-peak working.

At certain times there may be road closures required to allow for safe working. These planned closures will be limited to overnight only (between 8pm and 6am) – unless there are unforeseen circumstances or an emergency situation arises.

Diversion routes will be in place and road users are advise that delays will be likely and to explore alternative journeys for those travelling to and from the Islington, Fairfield and Kensington and Old Swan areas.

The A57 programme has received £2.7m from the Local Growth Fund (LGF). LGF funding is awarded to the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and invested through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority through its Strategic Investment Fund.

Councillor Jim Noakes, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet member for highways, said: “The Prescot Road scheme is a vital road connecting the east of the city to the city centre.

“This stretch of the A57 is crumbling and has long been in need of a major overall and it is a good demonstration of how our Better Roads programme is going to improve connections and the quality of experience for Liverpool’s communities.

“This is a complex scheme and unfortunately there will be delays throughout this programme of works. We’ve worked hard with our contractor to minimise disruption and ask road users to plan ahead and use alternative routes where possible.”

Councillor Liam Robinson, Chair of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, said: “My key priority is to drive economic prosperity for the whole city region and ensuring that we have the right transport infrastructure in place is absolutely vital to this.

“That’s why we included this work on the A57 as part of our key routes network investment programme to support the economic growth of our region.

“Taken as a whole, this investment will improve the state of our roads and enable better traffic flow on key routes across our city region, bringing benefits for our residents, visitors and businesses.”

Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, Jake Berry MP, said: “We’re committed to boosting economic growth across the whole of the Northern Powerhouse and building a Britain fit for the future.

“Thanks to £2.7m of investment from the Local Growth Fund, these highway improvement works near the Royal Liverpool hospital and around Newsham Park will better connect people across the City of Liverpool Region which will help to grow our economy across the Northern Powerhouse.”

 

Liverpool Waterfront