National Highways gives bridge green light for Salisbury communities

As part of an investment package for the A36 in Salisbury, National Highways has announced it will now replace the Wyndham Road footbridge over the busy city route.

The company, responsible for England’s motorways and major A roads, had initially planned to remove the 58-year-old pedestrian bridge altogether in a £23 million package of works announced earlier this year.

But having further monitored usage of the bridge and liaised with both city councillors and community groups, plans are now being developed to design a scheme to replace the structure, along with the Victoria Road footbridge.

Chris Hilldrup, National Highways Route Manager, said: “We do understand the importance of the footbridge as an A36 crossing point, and after listening to the community’s feedback, we’ve looked again at all options and will now be upgrading both structures.

“Installing more modern bridges will improve accessibility in those locations, and our next step is to go into detailed design to provide the best solutions to achieve that.”

The schemes are expected to be delivered in 2028/2029 and in the meantime, National Highways will keep communities informed every step of the way.

Caption: Both the Wyndham Road (above) and Victoria Road footbridges will be replaced by National Highways

The A36 Corridor work is being delivered to improve traffic flows and reduce congestion in the city, along with enhancing safety.

And in addition to the bridge replacements, the investment includes the installation of new, adaptive traffic signals at the Castle, St Mark’s and St Paul’s roundabouts, alongside resurfacing work and an upgrade of the Southampton Road pedestrian crossing.

The scheme to replace the 32-year-old roundabout signals is due to complete in the coming weeks. The upgraded traffic signals will be switched on next Wednesday (22 October) under existing fixed timings and will become adaptive to traffic flows following the installation of traffic detectors next month.

National Highways will also be holding two public information events next month to announce proposals for £25 million of further improvements to the A36 Southampton Road – bringing the total road investment in Salisbury to around £50 million over the next four years.

The company is looking to improve traffic flows and journey reliability along this section of the A36 by increasing lanes and capacity at the College and Bourne Way roundabouts, along with underpass and pathway enhancements and additional Active Travel provision.

The public engagement events are being held to gain feedback on initial plans, and the company is inviting all interested parties to attend and find out more.

The events will be held in Salisbury’s Market Square between 10am and 3pm on Tuesday, 17 November and Wednesday, 18 November and for those unable to attend, information and an online questionnaire will be available online.

In the meantime, further details on the A36 Corridor works can be found at the dedicated National Highways web page.