WORK is due to start on Monday, March 12, on three transport improvement schemes to boost pedestrian safety in Alton town centre. The work will form part of the third phase of the £294,000 Alton Town centre accessibility project. A pedestrian-refuge island is to be built at the top of Vicarage Hill, with a pedestrian build- out with dropped-kerbing and tactile paving on Church Street to provide safer crossing points, especially for those with mobility and visual impairments. Both streets are widely used by students accessing Alton College, Amery Hill secondary and other town primary schools. Alton station will see the construction at the entrance to the car park of a large refuge island for better pedestrian security. And a scheme is to be put in place to formalise the one-way priority traffic system under the railway bridge at Ashdell Road/ Lower Turk Street to allow for the construction of new permanent footways on either side of the road under the bridge. Surveys have shown that 5,800 vehicles a day use this road, at average speeds of 38 miles per hour, while some 100 pedestrians a day pass under the bridge. Hampshire County Council's executive member for environment, Mel Kendal said: "All these new measures will boost pedestrian safety in Alton and help to improve accessibility to services and amenities in and around the town. It is the third and final phase in a package of measures identified as pedestrian improvements in the town centre." Mr Kendal continued: "I would like to ask for residents' patience and continued support, while these works are carried out. "I am confident the local community will enjoy the benefits of walking around the town in a safer environment by the summer months when the final works are complete." The contractor for the work is Caroway Construction and works are scheduled to last for 12 weeks. A temporary road closure will be necessary to complete the works under the bridge but this, HCC assures, will be kept to an absolute minimum.
