It was a pleasure to join Highways England at the their site for the widening the A500 between Wolstanton and Porthill junctions near the Etruria Valley development.
The section of the A500 is important as it serves as a major access way to Middleport, Burslem and Tunstall. For a long time this area has suffered from:
❌ Congestion & journey time delays
❌ A number of high number of collisions at these junctions and merge points as a result of the high volume of traffic
This scheme will support the Etruria Valley Development by allowing the A500 to accommodate the new traffic this development will generate.
So far the work completed has been on the A500 verges which range from:
✅ Widening the road
✅ Installing new drainage
✅ New kerbing and lighting
✅ Building a new shared pedestrian and cycle path
At present work has now begun on the central reserve. This phase involves the removal of the existing central reserve, safety barrier and drainage, followed by installation of new drainage and a concrete central reserve barrier.
To safely carry out the work in the central reserve, Highways England are working overnight between 8pm and 5am from Sunday to Thursday.
I am delighted that they are also exploring having brown signs for one of our amazing landmarks, Middleport Pottery, so we can help boost tourism in Stoke-on-Trent North.