Road safety schemes along HS2 route to mitigate impact

A programme of road safety schemes will be drawn up along the route of HS2 in Northamptonshire to help mitigate the impact of the high-speed railway's building.
HS2 will provide a high-speed rail link between London and BirminghamHS2 will provide a high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham
HS2 will provide a high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham

The Department for Transport has given Northamptonshire County Council £1.65m to come up with the initiatives as part of the £30m HS2 Road Safety Fund.

To get the funding, the county council has to submit a programme of potential schemes that focus on a number of objectives including traffic calming and road and cycle safety.

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Cllr Ian Morris, county council cabinet member for transport, highways and environment, said: “This government money is extremely welcome as it allows us to carry out mitigation works which would just not have been possible without their assistance.

“What we need to do now is further work to gather together a list of the projects to take forward in consultation with local communities before working with our highways service provider KierWSP to get the schemes implemented.”

The route of HS2, a controversial new high-speed link between London and Birmingham, will pass through Northamptonshire between Brackley and Upper Boddington.

Following the completion of the HS2 enabling works, the main railway building is due to start in June, 2019.

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This is when the most significant impact of construction traffic will be felt on local communities, a county council spokesman said.

Schemes will be delivered in three phases – phase one projects will take place prior to when the main construction work starts, while phase two schemes will take place during the HS2 project.

Phase three projects will be carried out once HS2 is completed.

The county council’s cabinet will discuss the plans at a meeting next Tuesday (November 13).