A plan to transform Ashford’s one-way ring road into a two-way carriageway, with ‘shared space’ squares, will break the ‘stranglehold’ the route has over the town centre.
Kent County Council will showcase the £10M scheme in Ashford as part of a public consultation, beginning this week. The council claims the scheme, which will see a number of ‘shared space’ squares created at intersections on the existing ring road, is the first of its kind in the country.
A recent report to the council’s highways advisory board stated that the A292 currently ‘places a stranglehold on the town centre and the fast-moving, car-dominated environment restricts development opportunities, and severs the town centre core from outlying residential areas’. To address this, it is planned to turn half the ring road into a series of two-way streets so the current severance imposed by the route is significantly reduced, and a better balance is achieved between the needs of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
The squares are designed to encourage vehicles to slow to 20mph, and this would be enforced by a new compulsory speed limit. This would give pedestrians and vehicles ‘equal priority’, according to Kent. Gateway entries would be installed at each end of the new street areas that make up the ring road, including block paving, plantings and other environmental features. The squares would also be de-cluttered, with minimal road signage, markings and landscaping.
While still catering for vehicular movement, the council hopes the squares will reflect the need for pedestrians to cross, and enhance the public realm with the integration of a number of pieces of art. The cost of the scheme is currently estimated at £10M, although more detailed cost estimate will be prepared as the project proceeds. A formal funding bid to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister under the second round of growth area funding was awarded £8M on the basis it will be spent by the end of the 2007/8 financial year. Developer funding will meet the remaining costs of around £2M.
Kent County Council member for regeneration, Graham Gibbens, said: ‘We want to make the centre of Ashford an attractive place where people will want to come and live and do business. This scheme will open up Ashford and make it a better place for everyone.’
The current scheme-delivery programme, including consultation, design, appointment of a contractor and on-site construction, is scheduled to take about two years, with a project completion date of March 2008. If the scheme is deemed a success, the council plans to transform the second and much larger half of the ring road in the same way.
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