PLANS to overhaul a major North Somerset junction have been approved.

The scheme will see the redesign of the A370 Smallway junction in Congresbury in a bid to cut traffic, enhance safety, and improve sustainable transport and active travel links.

North Somerset Council (NSC) said the new layout would “allow the junction to function more efficiently in the years to come, by helping to improve local traffic flows and meet current and future travel needs”.

Changes planned for the A370 Smallway junction in Congresbury include:

• extending and widening the left-hand lane to Yatton, on the A370 from the Weston-super-Mare direction, to help increase road capacity at the junction
• helping address safety concerns by bringing the stop line heading towards Weston-super-Mare further forward, to encourage better vehicle positioning and adding new traffic signal crossings at the junction
• adding traffic lights on all arms of the junction, including on the left hand and right hand turns to Yatton off the A370, to support more efficient and controlled traffic movements
• closing the east side of the Smallway crossroads to all traffic from the A370 Bristol Road, creating a small pedestrian-friendly area which allows for a more accessible crossing point for pedestrians, cyclists and mobility users. This would also improve the safety and efficiency of the A370 at this location
• extending the existing, full-time bus lane with bus priority signals, on the approach to the Smallway junction from the Bristol direction, supporting current and future bus services. Current services standing to benefit from this change are the X1, X5, A3 services and WESTlink
• widening, lengthening and improving the western footway on the A370, making it more accessible, while removing the eastern footway between Smallway and Kent Road, which has less footfall, to make this possible
• resurfacing the roads directly affected by the improvements as part of the works. This means the Council can extend vital Highways maintenance budgets to address needs of as many areas as possible.

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Cllr Hannah Young, executive member for highways and transport at NSC, said: “I am pleased that the A370 Smallway junction improvements are taking their next step towards construction.

“The approved plans will help traffic to flow more effectively through the junction into the future, as well as providing better infrastructure for bus journeys, and more accessible pedestrian links.

“We’ll continue to engage with the local community through the next steps of detailed design and implementation.”

The Smallway project is funded by the Government through the Bus Service Improvement Plan and cannot be used to pay for any other council activities or services.

More information on when work will start will be made in the coming months, the council said.