Road safety plans between Preston & Lancaster in the pipeline

Highways bosses are drawing up plans to improve the safety of a busy route between Preston and Lancaster.

More than £4.5m is set to be spent on a series of measures to be implemented along the A6.

Lancashire County Council scooped the cash from a government fund earlier this year, but details are only now emerging about the kind of changes that could be on the horizon.  They include upgraded facilities for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as new traffic lights.

The improvements cover the stretch of the route between Broughton, on the outskirts of Preston, and the point at which the road meets the M6, just south of Galgate.

The Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund aims to reduce the risk to users of the 99 most dangerous sections of A-road nationwide.

In August 2023, a six-year-old girl died after being hit by a van on the A6 in Barton, while in April this year a teenage motorcyclist was killed following a collision on the route near Garstang.

The county council has previously received more than £8m from the Safer Roads pot, using it – amongst other things – to install average speed cameras on routes including the A581 between Rufford and Euxton.

In March, the authority successfully bid for a further £6m.  County Hall plans to spend £1.5m of its latest share on putting speed-detection kit on an additional stretch of the A583, between Preston and Blackpool. The remainder will be used on the A6 upgrades that are now being considered.

Matt Townsend, Director for Highways and Transport at Lancashire County Council, said that “a range of work has already taken place to improve safety on five key routes” in the authority’s patch.

He added:  “The section of the A6 covered by the scheme runs from Junction 33 of the M6 down to Broughton, with a number of proposed engineering options currently in the early design stages.

“These include improving pedestrian and cycle facilities, upgrades to signals, an increase in crossing facilities, improvements to cycle routes and link opportunities.

“There will be an opportunity for residents to give their views on these plans, and those related to the A583, once the proposals have been finalised.

“We are now in the process of seeking a contractor to install speed enforcement cameras on the A583 Blackpool Road in Kirkham, through to Peel Hill, following cabinet approval last week.”