DELAYS and overnight road closures will take place around Rugby’s junction with the M6 for the next six months.
Roadworks are now underway at Junction 1 of the motorway, to allow access to a new service station.
A new extended circulatory road will be built around the north-west section of the roundabout to allow access to the new site, while existing parts of the roundabout will be improved for traffic coming on and off the M6 and A426 Leicester Road.
The eastbound off-slip road will be widened and improved, and new street lighting, traffic signals and signage will be installed.
A traffic management scheme will be in place, and signs will give advance warnings about delays and closures. Daytime work will take place from 7.30am-4.30pm, and overnight work at 8pm-6am.
The changes which will be made to the roundabout linking the A426 Leicester Road with the M6. Image by Moto Hospitality Ltd.
A spokesman for Moto, which is behind the new services, said: “Local road users, as well as service area customers, will benefit from the enhancements around the junction and the A426, which will improve the condition of the roads and traffic flow in all directions.”
Due to open in late summer, the new £40million Rugby Services – currently being built at the former New Ash Tree Farm off Leicester Road on the north side of the motorway – will provide 215 permanent jobs.
It will include a hotel, restaurants, shops, a petrol station, a drive-through coffee shop and 100 HGV parking spaces, which the Moto spokesman said would help ease the problem of lorries parking overnight in lay-bys and on local roads.
The under-construction Rugby Services, north of the Junction 1 roundabout.
When the scheme was given planning permission by Rugby Borough Council (RBC) in 2017, Coun Bill Lewis – who voted against it – warned it would cause gridlock and ‘misery to Rugby residents’.
He said: “The roads around Rugby are already congested. Heavy trucks which are likely to use the service area will not be confined to those travelling along the M6.
“The Leicester Road/A426 is already congested, and that situation is likely to become an even greater problem.”
An objection to the scheme from Warwickshire Police’s Traffic Management Advisor warned unprecedented growth in Rugby and lane closures on Leicester Road were causing congestion and putting pressure on emergency services.
Historic England said it was concerned about the impact on the historic landscape, while an RBC Heritage Consultant said the development would harm the ‘adjacent heritage assets’ – while conceding the harm was ‘less than substantial’.
But a report by planning officers stated the proposed landscaping scheme meant views of the service station would be blocked within 15 years, adding: “The substantial ranges of economic, social and environmental benefits of the scheme demonstrably outweigh the harm to the identified heritage assets, and the loss of agricultural land.”
Visit www.rugbyservices.co.uk or call highway works enquiries on 0800 148 8911 (office hours only) for more information on the roadworks.
