No images? Click here Sprint: Bus priority corridors for reliable, greener and better connected journeysNewsletter - July 2021 Welcome to the July issue of our Sprint newsletter. Headlines this month: Carry on reading for further information on these stories or for more details of the Sprint project click here to visit our website. Solihull gives Sprint go-ahead A meeting of Solihull cabinet has given the green light to begin work on phase one of Sprint. A main contractor will be named in the next few weeks with work set to begin in August. 11 new shelters and enhanced stops will be constructed as part of the first phase of works which is due to be completed in time for the Commonwealth Games next summer. This also includes some minor civils work as part of the Sprint stop improvements. Letters have been sent to local residents and businesses along the route with more detailed notifications due to follow giving details of specific activity. As part of the statutory approval process for changes to the highway, Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) letters have also been delivered to properties so that local residents can make their views known about our proposed changes. A further eight stops with improved shelters are planned to be installed - if funding for a second phase of Sprint works is secured. All new Sprint shelters meet the Local Authority’s highway safety criteria and include CCTV cameras. Up to 95 enhanced bus shelters designed specifically to improve both the comfort and safety of bus users will be introduced along the corridor – granting easy access to vehicles, reducing bus stopping times and allowing for more reliable onward travel. Sprint shelter naming We’ll be running an online engagement over the summer to encourage local people, and bus passengers, to suggest names for certain stops. Most stops along the route are in pairs - one on each side of the road. The name is usually the same for both stops and this helps to make it easier for passengers to navigate the route, whichever direction they’re travelling in. However, some pairs of stops are a significant distance apart. In the case of Livingstone Rd in Perry Barr for example - recently visited by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street as the first shelter to be installed along the Sprint corridor - the two stops are around 200m apart and community feedback has shown that Livingstone Rd may not be the most appropriate name for the Birmingham bound shelter. Like all transport authorities, TfWM has to abide by specific naming criteria which have to be met for all bus stops. But this does give an opportunity for local communities and bus passengers to get involved by suggesting their alternative names for certain stops. Visit the website for a more detailed explanation of how we’ve named our bus stops along the Sprint corridor and how you can make your naming suggestions known. We’ll put any promising suggestions to a vote and announce any changes in September. Covid impacts A45 works Much of our previously notified works along the A45 has been pushed back into August because of the impact of Covid and the need for an increasing number of our A45 construction teams to isolate. Resurfacing works from Swan Island Roundabout to Heybarnes Circus Roundabout inbound towards Birmingham city centre is still expected to go ahead from the 19th July, with both daytime and overnight lane closures in place. Outbound resurfacing works between Heybarnes Circus to Swan Island towards Birmingham airport will take place during the last week of July. Clearly signposted diversion routes will be in place. However, planned drainage works along the Small Heath bypass have now been rearranged for the first week of August. You can find out more up to details by visiting the Transport for West Midlands Sprint page. A34 update Construction is now underway from Birmingham City centre all the way to Walsall town centre. Work along the A34 in Perry Barr is beginning to move over from the central reservation to allow work to begin on widening the highway and to install bus lanes on certain sections. Once complete the A34 will return to being a duel carriageway with no loss of carriageway space. We’ll continue to monitor traffic management on both the A34 and A45, liaising regularly with the Regional Transport Coordination Centre (RTCC) and our contractors to minimise disruption. In brief – our construction teams making a difference Morgan Sindall’s A45 project team have been making garden planters and bird boxes using old delivery pallets. These will be delivered to local schools with bird nesting information to help encourage nature in schools and the local area. Members of the MS Sprint project team also took part in the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge and raised over £883 for St Basils. A local charity, St Basils is also a Housing Association providing a range of accommodation and support services to young people aged 16-25 who are homeless, vulnerable, or at risk. Fitzgerald’s - our A34 contractor between Perry Barr station and the Scott Arms junction - have approached Walsall road allotments to see if they would like some of the pavement slabs that have been removed for the installation of new shelters. So far over a 1000 slabs have been snapped up and put to good use by allotment holders. Planned Activity This Month · Transport Regulation Order (TRO) process and engagement to begin in Solihull. · Work starts in Walsall town centre · Our online Sprint stop naming engagement begins online You’re up to date!Thanks for taking the time to stay updated on the Sprint project. We’ll keep you updated with further information relating to the scheme and the ongoing construction, on our Sprint website where you’ll find regular news and construction updates. If you have any specific enquiries, please contact our customer services team: Tel: 0345 303 6760, option 2, then option 3. Please contact us if you require material provided in an alternative language. You can request hard copies or a different format,of this newsletter by using the contact details shown above. If you received this newsletter, you will have either expressed an interest in being kept-up-to-date on Sprint, or we will have identified you as benefiting from it. If you no longer wish to receive Sprint related correspondence such as this, or you would like to receive information on our other two Sprint schemes, please get in touch. |