A section of the busy road is going to be closed for two weeks
The A38 Gloucester Road North/Braemar Avenue/Northville Road roundabout in Filton
Twin road closures in Filton and Horfield are set to cause delays for people travelling along Gloucester Road.
The A38 Gloucester Road North/Braemar Avenue/Northville Road roundabout in Filton will be shut overnight during the week for over two months for resurfacing and safety improvement works.
The main focus of the project, set to begin on Monday May 4, will be to change the roundabout approaches to reduce speeds and adjust the size and shape of the central island to provide a safer environment for cyclists and motorcyclists and ‘improve opportunities’ for pedestrians to cross Northville Road.
As a result of the works, the roundabout will be closed between 8pm and 6am on weeknights until July 19.
Meanwhile, gas upgrade works will lead to a round the clock closure further down Gloucester Road, from its junction with Dorian Road to just before it meets Wessex Avenue, between Monday May 18 and Friday May 29.
Diversions will be in place while the work takes place, with most traffic sent down Southmead Road. The 17, 18, 24, 71, 75, 76 and 505 bus services will also be affected, with members of the public advised to monitor the TravelWest website for updates.
South Gloucestershire Council says it is carrying out the roundabout work because three quarters of accidents there involve cyclists or motorbike riders. The authority announced its intention to change the roundabout in August last year.
According to a council statement at the time outlining its reasons for the changes: “This junction has an on-going history of collisions with a disproportionate number of the crashes involving cyclists. They are being struck by vehicles entering the circulatory carriageway at the roundabout.
“These crashes continue at a consistent level, and in the last five years there were six collisions involving cyclists and one motorcycle, out of a total of eleven crashes. Fortunately, all the collisions were slight injury (sic) only.
“The crashes mostly involved vehicles failing to give way (or that they thought it was safe to proceed). Traffic may emerge into the path of cyclists from between slow or stationary vehicles which are queuing.”
A public consultation was launched last year regarding the roundabout redesign. According to the council, a majority of people who responded to the survey supported the scheme.
The final feedback report reveals only 44 people responded to the consultation.
Of those, three felt the scheme would greatly improve road safety, 17 thought it would generally improve safety and 12 thought it would lead to a slight improvement. Twelve people thought it would make no difference at all.