MetroBus construction: April progress report

By Jim Aitken, community liaison officer at Alun Griffiths Ltd

MetroBus contractor Alun Griffiths Ltd have been granted extended working hours by the planning department of South Gloucestershire Council (SGC). Where the construction programme will benefit, we shall make use of these extended working hours to expedite the delivery of critical areas of the construction.

Extended working hours are only permitted on the section between Aztec West Roundabout and Patchway Brook Roundabout and are:

Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: 8am to 5pm

Works may be necessary outside of these hours and shall take place with the prior approval of the local authority and the project manager.

Planned late working hours shall be notified by clear signing two weeks in advance of implementation and a letter drop to residents in the adjacent area.

Works are progressing well on Bradley Stoke Way with the newly constructed splitter island and crossing going in at Patchway Brook Roundabout.

Bristol Water have commenced their temporary diversion to enable the permanent works to progress at Woodlands Lane. Once this is complete, Griffiths can undertake the road widening within this location.

We shall seek to open up the pedestrian crossing by Patchway Brook Roundabout (once SGC’s Streetcare has connected the Belisha beacons) and close the Orchard Gate crossing, so we can continue through this area with the road widening.

The widening work on Bradley Stoke Way south of Primrose Bridge is dependent on newt trapping, which, in turn, is dependent on night time temperatures being in excess of 5 degrees Celsius. We need 30 nights of trapping and five clear nights (i.e. no newts), before we can commence in this area. We are presently extending a short distance past the bridge up to the limit of the newt zone.

The outer sections of Great Stoke Way [which passes under the ‘blue bridge’ towards Parkway North] are now complete and we are working on the central reserve area in preparation for the final resurfacing.

Griffiths are very grateful to local residents and businesses for their patience as we construct the works required by South Gloucestershire Council and would like to work with the local community during the project to ensure that the community benefits in some way from the project. Here is a brief summary of community works to date:

We are working with the town council to remove and relocate large boulders from Bradley Stoke Way to near the leisure centre.
We are helping to improve the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve
We have sponsored a local rugby team, Aretians Ladies RFC, with some kit
We have continued to visit local schools with our ‘Bridge to Schools’ initiative that gives school children the opportunity to build and test a scale model of the Severn Bridge. Our visits have been scheduled to coincide with relevant areas of their curriculum to further enhance their learning.
We sponsored the Bradley Stoke Easter Bunny Bike Ride
Our workers are forever mindful to keep the local area as clean as possible and are often seen on litter picking duty

Photo: Temporary water main installed opposite the junction of Bradley Stoke Way and Woodlands Lane.

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