Otley Road in Harrogate to face six weeks of roadworks

Two-way traffic lights will be installed on Otley Road, between Harrogate and Beckwithshaw, from Monday until Friday May 6.

North Yorkshire County Council will put the lights next to Persimmon Homes’ Harlow Hill Grange development whilst roadworks take place.

According to the council’s website, works include installing new street lights and signs, connecting gullies to a ditch and building a new footpath.

Motorists using the section of Otley Road closer to Harrogate have faced over a year of disruption due to the construction of the Otley Road cycle path. Phase two is set to start later this year.

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Traffic lights coming to busy Knaresborough junction

Temporary traffic lights will operate in Knaresborough during two weeks of roadworks next month.

Multi-way traffic lights will be in place on York Road, at the junction of Wetherby Road, for a fortnight from April 11.

Northern Gas Networks, the gas distributor for the north of England, is replacing metal pipes with plastic pipes.

It said in a press release today the work would “ensure a safe and reliable supply of gas to customers now while getting the network ready to transport alternative greener fuels such as hydrogen in the future”.

The work has been planned in collaboration with North Yorkshire County Council, the highways authority.

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Scott Kitchingman, business operations lead for Northern Gas Networks, said:

“We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused during these essential works. However, it is vital we complete them in order to continue to maintain a safe and reliable gas supply to our customers in Knaresborough.

“We want to assure residents and road users that we will be working hard to complete this essential scheme as safely and as quickly as possible.”

 

Skipton Road traffic lights refurbishment to cost £143,000

A refurbishment of traffic lights on Harrogate’s Skipton Road is to cost taxpayers £143,000.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is the the highways authority, awarded a contract to Hampshire-based Dynniq UK Ltd to upgrade two junctions on the road.

According to the published contract, the works were valued at £143,288.55.

The county council had earmarked Kings Road and Bilton Lane junctions on Skipton Road for upgrades.

Highways bosses had planned to carry out work at the junctions back in 2020, but it was delayed due to the Nightingale Hospital set up at Harrogate Convention Centre.

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At the time, Melissa Burnham, highways area manager at the county council, said the work had to be put back as the “key route around the hospital” had to be protected.

Ms Burnham said the work included introducing a larger island at the Kings Road junction and installing new traffic lights at both junctions.

Meanwhile, Skipton Road, which is one of the busiest roads in Harrogate, is set to see further roadworks in the New Year.

Northern Gas Networks is set to set up temporary traffic lights at Knox Avenue, Bilton Grange Close and Skipton Crescent while it replaces metal pipes with plastic ones.

Five weeks of gas works to start on Harrogate’s Skipton Road in New Year

Traffic lights will be in place at busy junctions on Skipton Road in Harrogate at the start of the New Year.

Northern Gas Networks will install temporary lights at the junctions with Knox Avenue, Bilton Grange Close and Skipton Crescent while it replaces metal pipes with plastic ones.

The company will begin the upgrade at January 4 at the junction with Knox Avenue. This will see three-way temporary traffic lights in place for two weeks.

From January 17, the lights will be moved to Bilton Grange Close where two-way lights will be placed at the junction of Skipton Road for a further week.

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For the final two weeks of the project, the two-way temporary traffic lights will be moved along Skipton Road, to the junction with Skipton Crescent.

Northern Gas Networks said in a statement that although most work will be carried out on the road, engineers will need access to customer properties to complete the project and ensure the continued safe and reliable supply of gas.

Scott Kitchingman, business operations lead for Northern Gas Networks, said:

 “We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused during these essential works.

“We greatly appreciated the patience that Harrogate customers showed us when we carried out work at Skipton Road earlier this year, and we’ll be doing our very best to minimise any disruption during this project at Knox Avenue and Bilton Grange Close.

“However, it is vital we complete the work in order to continue to maintain a safe and reliable gas supply to the residents of Harrogate.

“Northern Gas Networks is continuing to carry out its essential activities while following strict guidelines for safe distance working, where possible, and following good hygiene practices as we continue to live with coronavirus.

“We want to assure residents and road users that we will be working hard to complete this essential scheme as safely and as quickly as possible.”

Roadworks on Harrogate’s Ripon Road delayed for third time

The completion date for the Northern Gas Networks roadworks on Ripon Road in Harrogate has been put back again.

Traffic lights were initially due to operate for four weeks from September 6 on the busy route into Harrogate town centre for what the company described as “essential work to modernise the gas network in Harrogate”.

But they were still in place when a major gas leak, which affected 3,000 homes for 48 hours, occurred on October 15.

North Yorkshire County Council has already granted roadwork extensions until October 22 and October 28.

Now Northern Gas Networks has said it expects work to continue throughout this week.

Scott Kitchingman, business operations manager at Northern Gas Networks, said:

“We had expected to remove temporary traffic lights on the Ripon Road at the end of last week, however we have encountered a delay in completing the final stages of our work and traffic management will remain in place this week.

“We know that no one likes roadworks and we would like to thank everyone for their patience while we complete this essential work.”

Northern Gas Networks said on October 17 it would carry out a “full investigation” into the gas leak but it has not released any details since, despite requests from the Stray Ferret.

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£200,000 bid to make busy Harrogate junctions safer

Two of Harrogate’s busiest junctions could undergo improvement work worth £200,000 to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

North Yorkshire County Council agreed today to bid for funding to improve the traffic lights at the junction of Wetherby Road and Railway Road, next to Sainsbury’s, and at the junction of Leeds Road, Pannal Bank and Follifoot Road.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, approved the bid at a meeting this morning.

He said there were no designs for the junctions at this stage but the idea was to make them safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

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The authority will bid to the Department for Transport, which has made £15 million funding available to councils for the maintenance of traffic lights.

Cllr Mackenzie said the bid was not a reflection of a lack of highways funding in the council’s budget.

He said:

“We get opportunities to bid for certain types of funding.

“We make a bid and we hope to receive that funding and that is the nature of some highways funding these days.”

A report before Cllr Mackenzie this morning said that the two junctions were key to the town and could “be improved significantly”.

It said the lights were running on “aged equipment” and needed to be modernised.

The report said:

“Both junctions are operating with aged equipment and technology that requires full refurbishment and upgrade improvements. As key junctions, the current performance is of some constraint to network performance and efficiency.

“Each site can be improved significantly not only in terms of traffic flow but also for pedestrian and cyclist facilities, particularly Railway Road that is one of the largest signalised junctions and does not have pedestrian crossing facilities.”

The county council expects to learn about the outcome of the bid at a later date.

It comes as the county council is pressing ahead with plans to improve cycling and walking in the town.

The authority has unveiled four proposals as part of its active travel scheme, including cycle lanes on Victoria Avenue and a 20 mile per hour zone on Oatlands Drive.

Other measures include the £7.9 million Station Gateway project, which could see James Street pedestrianised and one-lane traffic on Station Parade.

The joint plan by North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority seeks to encourage sustainable transport in the town centre.

Skipton Road roadwork misery set to end next month

Northern Gas Networks has pledged to finish its long-running Skipton Road roadworks next month after more misery for motorists over the weekend.

The company apologised today after temporary traffic lights failed on Friday night, causing delays.

Highways chief Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, tweeted that Northern Gas Networks should respond “much more promptly” to traffic light failures.

Yes, these are @NGNgas works under @northyorkscc licence. The utility company and its contractor should respond much more promptly to failure of temp lights at this very busy location. https://t.co/wKE2M2qAAl pic.twitter.com/EFhUXmFmZJ

— Don Mackenzie (@Mac1Don) March 13, 2021

Scott Kitchingman, site manager for Northern Gas Networks, said:

“We apologise to road users in Harrogate for the problems with the temporary traffic lights on Skipton Road last Friday.

“The issue was reported to us and a team was sent out to the site as quickly as possible.

“While this has been a complicated project, it is now in its final stages, and we expect all works on Skipton Road to be completed in April.”

Skipton Road is one of the busiest roads in Harrogate.

Northern Gas Networks began work replacing metal pipes with plastic ones in July last year.

Four-way traffic lights caused tailbacks not only on Skipton Road but also on adjoining King’s Road and Woodfield Road.

Work was due to end in November but was eventually paused in October and recommenced in January.

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Bilton Working Men’s Club submitted a claim for loss of earnings last year because the roadworks made it more difficult for people to get to the building, and led some people to think it was shut.

Separate roadworks are likely to cause delays in Knaresborough this week.

Temporary traffic lights are in place on Manor Road and the B6163, adding to congestion on Thistle Hill.
Both sets of works are expected to be finished by the end of the week.
The work on Manor Road is being carried out by Yorkshire Water and the work on the B6163 is by North Yorkshire County Council.