Four weeks of temporary lights on key Fulwood road by Royal Preston Hospital

The work takes place along Sharoe Green Lane near Booths Pic: Blog Preston

A key road in Fulwood for access to Royal Preston Hospital is to see temporary traffic lights put in place for four weeks.

Part of Sharoe Green Lane near the row of shops and the Booths supermarket will see work start from Tuesday (7 May) morning.

Lancashire County Council say this is to upgrade the current zebra crossing to a controlled puffin crossing – which means a permanent set of traffic lights by the hospital.

Cabinet member for highways and transport county councillor Rupert Swarbrick said: “This is a very busy area with high demand from pedestrians to cross Sharoe Green Lane between the hospital and the shops, which is why we’re upgrading the crossing to a controlled puffin crossing.

“We will try to keep disruption to a minimum, but there will inevitably be delays in this area due to the temporary lights needed to make sure the work can be done safely. The team working on this job will be able to operate the temporary lights manually if necessary to keep traffic moving as efficiently as possible.

“I’d ask anyone who can to avoid this area over the next three to four weeks, and if you do need to use Sharoe Green Lane please leave plenty of time for your journey.

“I’m sorry for the disruption and would like to thank people in advance for their patience while we carry out this important upgrade.”

The current pedestrian crossing is being replaced with a puffin crossing including traffic lights Pic: Lancashire County Council

The work also needs the bus stops to be relocated temporarily 100m away to ‘help traffic flow through the temporary lights’. The stops are served by the 19 and 23 services.

The county council is also adjusting the kerb heights, excavations to put in the traffic lights and controllers and laying ‘tactile paving’.

An overnight road closure in Sharoe Green Lane is also planned towards the end of June to install ‘high-friction surfacing’ on the approaches to new crossing along with new road markings. No exact date has been given for when this will be.

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