SC240099 Bearsted Road

Description

Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest local authority in England covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over £1bn on goods and services and a population of 1.6m. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with the NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, 12 district councils, and 289 parish/town councils. KCC consists of four directorates: • Adult Social Care and Health; • Children, Young People and Education; • Growth, Environment and Transport; and • Strategic and Corporate Services. This service is being commissioned on behalf of the Major Capital Programme Team which sits within the Growth, Environment and Transport directorate. The A249 Bearsted Road scheme is an important infrastructure improvement which aims to address congestion in Maidstone. The Bearsted Road scheme involves widening Bearsted Road to provide a 4-lane dual carriageway and a shared footway/cycleway on the southern side of Bearsted Road between the crematorium and New Cut Road. The ‘Next’ roundabout will be signalised, whilst enlarging and signalising the New Cut (KIMs) roundabout, together with an alternative access and service roads to the Newnham Court Shopping Village. Lot 1: The objective of the Bearsted Road scheme is to improve capacity and operational efficiency, together with improved infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. The highway extents are highly constrained and therefore the available solutions are limited particularly as there is a need to minimise land take and any commercial impact on Newnham Court Shopping Village. The scheme is expected to deliver improved capacity, better pedestrian and cycling connectivity. The dualling option will make it possible for future traffic incidents or maintenance requirements to be catered for under lane closures, therefore enabling a two-way flow of traffic to be maintained and reducing congestion.