Cllrs Paul Cunningham, Charles McGrath, Jo King, Sven Hocking, Jeremy Nettle, Atiqul Hoque, Mary Webb, Jo Broom, Mark Mewse, Cliona Hibbert and Ed Rimmer. THE Conservative group has written to Highways England to note its total dissatisfaction and frustration with the A36. In a letter to Neil Winter, Highways England route manager, the group has highlighted two issues in particular: The lack of any meaningful progress on the Southampton Road walkway/cycle lane improvements, and the potentially life-threatening consequences of the traffic light outage on St Mark’s Roundabout. The A36 cycle scheme has experienced some delays due to unforeseen service lines, meaning the pavements had to be hand dug using specialist equipment and the current plan is to reopen the cycleway at the end of June.
St Mark s roundabout. Picture by Spencer Mulholland THE traffic lights at St Mark s roundabout will be out of action for a few more weeks. The lights were switched off following damaged caused by the on-going resurfacing work, and the repair work is to be undertaken in the coming weeks , say Highways England. The Conservatives say a Wiltshire Council officer has explained to them that the traffic light outage, caused by a contractor accidentally damaging the ducts and power cables connecting the lights, would only be repaired in months, not weeks, while also noting that the roundabout is not suitable for operation without traffic lights .