PARK STREET ROAD CLOSURE - LATEST INFORMATION IN YELLOW
The original project plan and other information is below this yellow box. The latest information from Cllr Nuala Webb is in bold.
UPDATE - 7th September
Park Street Lane is all still open and expected to remain so. The A5183 is still fully closed just below the Park Street Lane junction. They have moved things down slightly and the car wash is now accessible only from the north via an uneven bit of road which will hopefully be resurfaced soon. Sycamore Drive, Park Place and The Overdraft are still accessible from the south. They are currently at Phase 3 (in green) on the map below.
Some cars, vans and bikes are attempting to move the barriers and drive on the grass and pavements, and have just missed hitting elderly pedestrians. Photos are being taken and passed on to the police. Motorcycles can go through, but must be walked through, not ridden.
THE LOCAL BUSINESSES THERE ARE SUFFERING FROM THE LACK OF PASSING TRADE. ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP THEM WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED. THE CAR WASH IS ACCESSIBLE FROM THE NORTH.
They are still ahead of schedule, so hopefully the full 7 week closure won't be required.
ORIGINAL INFORMATION BELOW - INCLUDES BUS INFORMATION
If you plan on heading up or down The A5183 Watling Street through Park Street between the 19th August and 6th October, please be aware that it is closed in Park Street for all of that time. I will keep this page updated with any new information we receive during the closure. It's a phased closure, so some local traffic can get around, but there is no through route at all. The phases are:
Phase 1 - North of Park Street Lane to Burydell Lane:
Approx. 1 week - 19th August to 23rd August
Phase 2 - Burydell Lane across Park Street Lane:
Approx. 1 week - 23rd August to 30th August
Phase 3 - South of Park Street Lane to Park Place:
Approx. 2 weeks - 30th August to 13th September
Phase 4 - Sycamore Drive to Branch Road:
Approx. 2 weeks - 13th September to 27th September
Phase 5 - Across Branch Road to Park Street Bridge:
Approx. 1 week - 27th September to 4th October
Timings are of course subject to tweaks as things progress. You can see the phases on the map below. A PDF version of the map is available for download here.
Access to all businesses, residents and the school will remain open. The 601 and 635 buses will be diverted and there will be shuttle buses to allow access to the diverted buses. The timetables for the shuttle buses are also below. As far as we know, they are point to point services, with no intermediate stops. You can also download PDF versions from the links there. Details of the diversions are on the Intalink website, the 601 is here and the 635 is here. There is other route information on the Intalink Service disruptions page that may be useful here, though you may have to scroll around to find it.
The official diversion route is via The A414, A1081 and Harper Lane, which is a pretty convoluted route on already very busy roads. There are of course several other alternatives. The local roads are already very busy from motorists who aren't aware of the closure, so please avoid the area if you can.
Local communications about this have been poor, so it seems awareness is low. There are also road works on several other local roads that will be used as alternative routes at the same time, so there doesn't seem to be much in the way of coordination for such a major project.
Road Closure Phase Map
Thanks to Cllrs Nuala Webb & Terrie Smith for extracting the relevant information from the right people. It hasn't been easy!
If you have any useful information or updates to this page, please mail me at: garyb.stalbans@outlook.com
Gary Broadbent