A BUSY Cannington Road will close for a week as work on a new cycle route takes place next week.

Part of Main Road, Cannington, will close from Monday, October 23 to Friday, October 27 while Somerset County Council carry out work to widen three pedestrian islands around the Cannington south roundabout for cyclists.

The closure will take place between Cannington village and the Main Road Roundabout as part of essential works for a new cycleway scheme along the A39 Cannington to Sandford Hill. The A39 will remain open.

A diversion route will be in place directing people to and from the village. Cyclists and walkers may have to be diverted around the works during this period, but will be able to gain access to the A39 south of the village.

Cllr John Woodman, cabinet member for highways at Somerset County Council, said: “We recognise there is never a good time to carry out essential improvements, but the short-term closure of part of Main Road in Cannington is planned to take place during school half term when roads are generally quieter.

“By removing the traffic entering the roundabout from Cannington village, it leaves only two way traffic under traffic signal control on the A39. At certain times, we will have to send traffic the wrong way around the roundabout to enable some of the works to take place.

“We appreciate this may cause some disruption to local businesses and have written to them in advance. We apologise for the inconvenience these essential works may cause and ask road users to allow extra time on their journey.”

The Main Road closure will also mean two bus stops in Cannington cannot be served. Buses of Somerset will place notices on affected stops to advise passengers of their nearest stop.

Temporary traffic management will also continue to remain in place on the A39 near Cannington Mowers.

The cycleway is due to be complete by mid-November and will connect off-road cycle facilities between Cannington and Combwich and link to on-road provision for cyclists through Wembdon and into Bridgwater.

Cllr Woodman continued: "The new cycle and footway is a significant investment in the area, which when complete next month will give people safer options for travelling locally.

“To keep traffic delays to a minimum, the majority of works which started in June were carried out from the field side using a licence agreement with the landowners. However, the project has recently reached a point where temporary traffic lights are now required to ensure the safety of both workers and pedestrians. We are working as quickly as possible to complete these works and want to thank road users for their patience whilst these works are underway.”

The lights are under manual control during peak times - and if required at other times of the day. This means staff check queue lengths and adjust the lights if one direction needs favouring over the other. Queue lengths are also monitored outside of peak times to ensure traffic flows as smoothly as possible.

For safety reasons, the signals will continue to operate overnight during the week, but will be removed at weekends when work is not taking place.