Starting on Monday 23 July, work will begin on new measures to discourage vehicles from travelling unnecessarily through the centre of the village and encouraging use of James Towers Way.
There’ll also be traffic calming features at key locations through the village.
The work being carried out by Lancashire County Council will begin at the north and south ends of Garstang Road, before moving to the centre of the village around the crossroads.
There’ll be improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, including to part of the Preston Guild Wheel.
Garstang Road will be narrowed and a new grass verge and cycle track will be created on the west side of the road.
There will also be tree planting, speed humps, a new pedestrian and cyclist crossing to replace the existing crossing to the south of Church Lane, as well as improvements around the war memorial.
Public realm improvements in the village centre will take place on Garstang Road, Whittingham Lane and Woodplumpton Lane. High-quality natural stone materials, a reduced road width, wider footways, courtesy crossings and landscaping will be installed.
The whole project is schedule to take around eleven months to complete. Temporary road closures will be needed at times during this work.
County Councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “This package of measures will significantly improve the centre of Broughton, making it a more welcoming place. It will also improve walking and cycling facilities, and add new measures to encourage better driving and reduce unnecessary journeys through the village.
“This work is part of the planning permission for James Towers Way, which has already made a huge difference in the centre of Broughton, where queues have come down and travel times have improved for many people. These improvements will bring even more positives for people in Broughton.”
The improvement work is part of the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal, which aims to help people to get around and improve the areas where people live and work.
The City Deal is an agreement between the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Preston City Council, South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, along with central government and Homes England.
The opening of James Towers Way has already made it possible to introduce a new 20mph speed limit on sections of Garstang Road, Woodplumpton Lane and Whittingham Lane. A 7.5 tonne weight limit has already been introduced on sections of Garstang Road.
Once this has been completed, work will then start in the centre of the village, around the crossroads and along the rest of Garstang Road to link these three sections. This will include repaving of footways and the carriageway in high quality materials, as well as the introduction of courtesy crossings and a permanent Give Way layout at the crossroads.
The traffic signals at the crossroads have been switched off, due to significantly-reduced levels of traffic, with priority now given to vehicles using Whittingham Lane and Woodplumpton Lane. Garstang Road no longer has priority.
Councillor Iddon added: “The county council is aware of comments from residents about the crossroads and the failure of a small number of drivers to follow the new speed limits or the give-way requirement at the crossroads. This improvement work should help to stop these problems by reducing vehicle speeds and encouraging more people to use James Towers Way.”
City Deal will help to create more than 20,000 new private sector jobs and see over 17,000 new homes built across the area, along with new school places, open green spaces and new health provision to cater for the growing population.
For more information about City Deal, visit www.lancashirelep.co.uk/city-deal or follow them on Twitter @lancscitydeal.
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