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Travel and
transport news
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A new 15-metre bridge has been installed over the B3136 in Shepton Mallet, completing another section of Somerset’s Strawberry Line, a traffic-free path from the Mendips to the sea. This project, a collaboration between volunteers, councils, charities, and contractors, aims to create a safer walking and cycling route.
Thank you to the volunteers who have been invaluable to this initiative, their hard work is key to the project's success, which aims to reduce congestion, promote active travel, and support local businesses, benefiting Shepton Mallet for generations to come.
Somerset Council, Cornwall Council and Hampshire County Council are part of a Live Labs 2 project to decarbonise our road maintenance.
The counties aim to revolutionise the highways sector and maintenance activities by utilising the Doughnut model as a guiding framework to develop a comprehensive assessment tool - the Highways Doughnut Toolkit.
This will be used to evaluate both strategies, policies and maintenance projects on the ground.
Aligned with the principles of Doughnut Economics, the counties have collaboratively envisioned an ideal future state for the sector. By applying the Highways Doughnut Toolkit, they can determine whether their current policies and targets are aligned with achieving this desired state.
Concurrently, they evaluate their ongoing and planned projects to ensure they are fostering positive social and ecological outcomes.
After a year of intensive design processes, involving various stakeholders and experts from within and beyond the sector, the first version of the tool is now ready to be applied to real-life maintenance projects.
See a sneak peak of the Highways Doughnut Toolkit and stay tuned as we plan to share full toolkit and our learning as we trail it alongside our highways services.
Watch the video here.
Somerset Council has welcomed proposed improvements to Watchet Marina under the new leaseholders Western Marinas Limited.
Western Marinas Ltd has taken on the assets that were previously under the management of The Marine & Property Group Ltd. Its plans include the return of fuel sales and a full electrical refit as well as dredging at Watchet Marina.
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Work on a major project to upgrade the busy Dunball roundabout linking Bridgwater and Junction 23 of the M5 is set to start on 11 November.
The project aims to make walking and cycling easier at the roundabout as well as improving traffic flow and capacity. It is being delivered by contractor Centregreat, following a tendering process.
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Schools have reopened, new road markings have been laid, and the school streets initiative in Frome continues to ensure children's safety, promote active travel, and reduce both congestion and air pollution. The reduced speed limit, temporary road closures, and new road markings in Frome around Oakfield Academy, Trinity First School, Critchill School, and Avanti Park School are set to remain until autumn 2025. An ongoing consultation for the 18-month school streets project invites public feedback. Once the experimental period has elapsed a decision will be taken by Somerset Council as to whether the scheme, as installed, can be made permanent.
We have a further school streets project taking place in Bridgwater too, find out more here.
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 In September, the Highway and Transport's Travel Plan team organised a series of sustainable travel events in two new housing developments funded by their developers as part of their respective Travel Plans.
Dr Bike provided a free bike service for families living in Orchard Grove, Taunton. The team engaged with residents, discussing local cycling and walking routes, as well as forthcoming sustainable travel initiatives. This event was followed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust guided walks at Kingsfield, Glastonbury. Offering residents community walks, educating them about nearby open spaces to increasing the number of residents walking to their daily destinations.
Somerset Council’s Highways Team is resurfacing sections of one of the key roads into Hinkley Point C next week.
The phased work will take place on the C182 between the entrance to the plant and the Cannington Roundabout. The Council’s specialist resurfacing contractor Heidelberg Materials is starting work on Monday 23 September and the scheme is expected to complete on Tuesday 26 October.
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Somerset Council’s Highways Team is doing some essential drainage works on Church Street in Winsham.
The scheme, which will reduce the potential for road flooding and hazardous surface water ahead of the winter, is located between Court Street and Back Street. Work will take place between Monday 23 September and Monday 21 October with a 24-hour closure in place due to open excavations.
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 We are excited to announce that the public voting is now open for naming two new road gritters, which will be added to our 23-vehicle gritter fleet. We reached out to local schools and invited them to get creative and come up with names for these essential vehicles.
The gritter naming competition is a fantastic opportunity to involve the community and raise awareness about the importance of road safety during the winter months.
Get your vote in on our social networks between Friday 18 to 25 October.
Somerset Council is warning that fraudulent text messages about unpaid parking fines have been sent to Somerset residents.
The council are reminding the public that the council does not text residents with parking fines (PCN). If you receive one of these texts, it is not from Somerset Council and may be a scam.
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This autumn, Fixy will be on the road and heading to events across Somerset.
Fixy accepts items including laptops, tablets, mobile phones and smart phones, smart watches, digital cameras, game consoles and accessories, hard drives, external disk drives, and routers, all including a power supply cable, AC adaptor and charger wherever possible.
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Avon & Somerset Police have reported that every year, more than 1,500 young drivers aged 17-24 are killed or seriously injured on the UK's roads.
They are working with TTC Group, to offer a fully funded "Raise Your Drive" safety course to schools, colleges & sports clubs. https://orlo.uk/br4KK
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