B&NES Council has been working on plans to help keep people moving during the improvement works due at Bath Spa railway station.From 8th to 24th April, Network Rail will be carrying out work to modernise Bath Spa station, so that new, longer trains can be accommodated. The work will include making the platforms wider and will also reduce the stepping distance to and from trains.

During this time, there will be periods when buses replace trains to and from the station. To help these replacement buses keep to time and maintain rail connections, a city-bound bus lane will be temporarily installed on the A4 London Road between the A46 roundabout and its junction with Lambridge Street. This work is being funded by Great Western Railway.

As the work is taking place during the school Easter holiday, it is anticipated that the volume of traffic in the city of Bath will remain the same as a normal busy day. B&NES Council will also put in place a series of measures to help traffic flow, with advanced messaging warning drivers of potential disruption displayed via roadside systems.

A number of traffic management plans will be in place including:

• Non-emergency roadworks will be embargoed along roads in B&NES that are to be used for the rail replacement bus services, including the A4. This will also be the case on a number of surrounding roads that have been identified as alternate routes in the event of an emergency on the designated route.

• Liaising with coach operators regarding the works

• Monitoring traffic flows through Cleveland Place, Dorchester Street and the Gloucester Road junction

• Avon and Somerset Constabulary Road Policing Unit has been asked to enforce the box junctions at Hicks Gate, particularly during peak times.

• There will be strict parking and bus lane enforcement along the A4.

• A CCTV link will be provided to Bath Spa station to help monitor traffic flows

• Monitoring traffic flows through Saltford

• Creation of a temporary inbound bus lane on London Road West

Feedback from bus operators running local services along London Road has

suggested that the temporary extension of the city-bound bus lane could make a significant improvement to punctuality and journey times. Therefore, the Council will run an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order to help identify and quantify these benefits, and establish whether the bus lane should become permanent. For more information on rail services during the Bath Spa improvement works, visit: www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/bath2017