HIGHWAYS England work to keep a vital gateway to the Lake District and south Cumbria communities in tip-top condition will start next month.
The A590 south of Kendal between its junctions with the A591 at Brettargh Holt and the M6 at junction 36, is being totally overhauled in the £7 million, four-month project which starts on Friday 4 September.
The dual carriageway between the two junctions will be totally reconstructed and resurfaced during the work. New drainage, road markings, road studs and sections of safety barrier will also be provided.
The roundabout at junction 36 of the M6 will also benefit from resurfacing and other maintenance and repairs.
Highways England senior project manager Steve Mason said: “We’ve been preparing for this major maintenance project for a while and have already completed some work which will help us keep traffic moving along the A590 while we reconstruct and resurface the carriageway.
“However, this is a large project and there will be disruption to some road users’ journeys at different times which we’ll be publicising during the work – including through our popular free text alert service.”
More than 60,000 tonnes of surface material more than a foot deep will be peeled off the A590 for 3½ miles in both directions between the two junctions. More than ¾ of the material will be recycled on-site and re-used as new foundations and surfacing is laid.
The work along the A590 includes replacing parts of the carriageway foundations as well as laying a new asphalt surface
To keep drivers on the move in both directions along the A590, a contraflow arrangement between the motorway and Brettargh Holt will be installed. This will operate between Monday 14 September and Saturday 24 October and will feature a reduced, 50mph speed limit for safety reasons.
Other traffic management arrangements include some closures of the roundabout with the M6 at junction 36. At times, access from the A591 and A6 towards the A590 from Shenstone interchange will also be affected. In all cases, clearly-signed diversion routes for motorway and non-motorway traffic will be in place.
Full details of the traffic management arrangements, including details of diversion routes, are included in a project leaflet published last week and available on a dedicated webpage at www.highwaysengland.co.uk/programme/a590-maintenance-schemes/
Highways England is also running its popular free text alert system for this scheme. Anyone wishing to sign up for regular project updates should send a text message from their device – with the message HE-A590-J36 – to 0786 005 7529. People can also contact Highways England’s customer contact centre the project on 0300 123 5000 or info@highwaysengland.co.uk.
During the Covid-19 situation Highways England has been unable to offer face-to-face meetings for road users and other stakeholder to discuss the work but is running Microsoft Teams events from Wednesday (28 August). These will run daily – except at the weekend – 9am, 10am, 4pm and 6pm every day until Friday 4 September, including Bank Holiday Monday on 31 August. Information on how to join one of the virtual meetings is available on the webpage.
