Map showing the route of the new two-way cycleway on Castle Gates and Castle Street
The next phase of work to improve the area outside Shrewsbury railway station will begin on 12 May [2025], with the construction of new cycleways on Castle Foregate from New Park Road through to Windsor Place on Castle Gates.
And from 12 May to 6 June National Grid will be installing new high voltage cabling within the public highway via a route between their substation at Preston Street and the substation located under The Darwin Centre on Raven Meadows.
National Grid plans to lay a section of the cable between Howard Street and Meadow Place and along Castle Foregate/Castle Gates to connect up to the substation on Raven Meadows. Shropshire Council has agreed that they carry out this work in advance of their wider programme to avoid further disruption in future, and ensure the work is completed before the council’s planned resurfacing work at Castle Foregate/Castle Gates at the end of the station gyratory improvements.
Cycleway work
The work at New Park Road has been revised and will include a widened footway, a new controlled crossing, linking into the old canal path, and will then proceed southbound on Castle Foregate on the eastern footway, which will be widened to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists within a shared facility.
The original proposal for the cycleway, which was part of the overall project consultation earlier in 2024, would have resulted in the loss of all on street parking along Castle Foregate, between Cross Street and New Park Road.
The revised routing has been considered the most appropriate option to provide a safer environment for cyclists by providing a shared facility that is off the main road and ensures that on street parking can be maintained on Castle Foregate.
The cycleway will move from the footway on to the road, ahead of the Howard Street/Cross Street junction, and will continue along Castle Foregate, in front of the railway station. The existing near side lane in front of the station will be converted to a two-way segregated cycle way.
Towards the end of the station gyratory work, the two-way segregated cycle way will be extended beyond the Smithfield Road junction, along Castle Gates/Castle Street to Windsor Place. This section will be subject to a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) and converts the existing bus lane for use by cyclists– vehicular traffic will use the right hand lane along Castle Gates in to Castle Street. More detail on the timeframe will be made available once confirmation has been received from our contractor, McPhillips.
McPhillips will ensure that access to premises will be available at all times and a temporary walkway will be provided on the eastern side of the road between New Park Road and the Howard Street junction whilst the footway works are undertaken.
Temporary suspension of the parking bays on the western side of the road between the Cross Street junction and New Park Road will be required from 19 May to ensure safe passage of vehicles and pedestrian/cycle movements.
This will be managed carefully by McPhillips, who will issue letters to all frontages, explaining how the works will proceed, and the approximate timeframes involved. Every effort will be taken to free up parking as the works progress to limit the impact.
Drawings of the cycle routes, a copy of the letter from our contractor, and the traffic management layouts can be found on the Shropshire Council website.
National Grid work
Shropshire Council has held a series of collaborative discussions with National Grid who have recently secured funding to undertake a major cable reinforcement scheme within Shrewsbury, as part of a programme to improve their electricity distribution network.
This will allow National Grid to complete the necessary trenching work and installation of their new apparatus to avoid future disruption and inconvenience to the general public and to local businesses, along with ensuring the works are completed prior to the carriageway at Castle Foregate / Castle Gates being resurfaced as part of the final phase of the Station quarter enhancement scheme.
During the works there will be a Lane Closure on Castle Foregate between 12 May and 6 June 2025. In conjunction with the lane closure, there will be temporary traffic lights erected on Castle Foregate at the junction with Howard Street and Cross Street from 12 to 22 May.
From 27 to 30 May a further set of temporarily traffic lights will then be erected on Castle Foregate at the junction with Smithfield Road. This phase of works will be undertaken overnight between 7pm and 7am with the permanent signals switched back on each morning at 7am during this period to help minimise disruption.
For the final phase of the works a road closure will be required on Meadow Place from 2 to 6 June. During this time, a signed diversion will be in place, with access maintained to businesses and to residential properties.
National Grid will provide a traffic management operative on site daily from 7am to 7pm to manually control the temporary traffic lights whilst they are in operation.
Residents and affected businesses will be notified of the works and advance warning signs will be erected on site two weeks prior to the scheme commencing.
