Work to provide a dedicated ‘free flow’ lane to help drivers joining the A56 from the M65 in Lancashire is underway.
The Highways Agency is spending £760,000 on the segregated left turn lane on the westbound carriageway at Junction 8 of the motorway at Hapton between Accrington and Burnley. It will improve safety for drivers joining [...]
Work to provide a dedicated ‘free flow’ lane to help drivers joining the A56 from the M65 in Lancashire is underway.
The Highways Agency is spending £760,000 on the segregated left turn lane on the westbound carriageway at Junction 8 of the motorway at Hapton between Accrington and Burnley. It will improve safety for drivers joining the A56 southbound and cut congestion.
The work, which is expected to be completed by the end of March, is taking place overnight and at weekends and started last Tuesday (January 26). The scheme also involves installing new road markings and resurfacing the carriageway.
The dedicated lane taking traffic onto the A56 southbound will be about 200 yards long beginning on the exit slip road and continuing for a short distance onto the A56 itself. It will free drivers from having to stop or queue at the roundabout or on the slip road before joining the southbound carriageway.
Highways Agency Project Sponsor John Mather said, “These segregated left turns work well in other parts of the region’s motorway network and at this part of the M65 will ease drivers’ entry onto the A56.
“The new arrangements will also mean separating drivers joining the dual carriageway from different directions of the roundabout so it will also make this junction safer.
“It is possible that we will need to close parts of the roundabout during the work. If we do have to close any part of the roundabout we will do it when it will have the least impact on traffic.”
Around 60,000 drivers use this section of the M65 every day and to minimise the inconvenience to road users most of the work will be taking place overnight between 9pm and 5am each weekday and 8pm and 10.30am at weekends.
Roadworks will affect parts of the northbound and southbound A56, the roundabout itself and the eastbound and westbound M65 exit slip roads.
The work may involve closures of all or part of the roundabout at times which will also affect the A6068, a local road with junctions at the roundabout, as well as the M65 and A56. However, closures and diversions will be signed and updates will be provided on the Highways Agency’s website at
www.highways.gov.uk:
http://www.highways.gov.uk.
A 50 mph speed limit is also in place through the roadworks.
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