Mannington roundabout project
Mannington roundabout is a key intersection in Swindon’s strategic road network, connecting Junction 16 of the M4 motorway to the town centre and beyond. Due to the increase in traffic on Swindon’s roads, the junction became heavily congested at peak times. Over a two-year period, a series of road improvements have been carried out to alleviate congestion and improve traffic flow for those using this roundabout.
The work was funded by Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership. The scheme at Mannington forms part of a £3.2 million investment in a route-wide package to roll out a Quality Bus Corridor. This could connect Wichelstowe with the town centre using the dedicated right-turn for buses at the Wootton Bassett Road and Penzance Drive junction.
The four phases of work
The work at Mannington was divided into four phases, with the final phase completed in January 2020. Work began in February 2018 with the removal of the Wootton Bassett Road bus lane between Mannington roundabout and the junction with Penzance Drive.
The second phase focused on improving capacity on Tewkesbury Way. We removed the traffic island and shortened the bus lane to extend the three lane approach on to Mannington roundabout to provide more queuing space. The work was completed in July 2018.
We widened the northern and easterly arms of the roundabout in phase three. These improvements were completed in February 2019 to ease traffic flow from Great Western Way (B4006) into Wootton Bassett Road (by the Fish Brothers car dealership).
The final phase was based at Mannington Retail Park. This saw the construction of a new merging on-slip lane from the retail park onto Great Western Way (A3102) for southbound traffic, towards Blagrove junction. This slip road was opened in January 2020. It will reduce the volume of traffic needing to leave the retail park at Wootton Bassett Road, travelling on to Mannington roundabout.
Within the retail park itself, Telford Way was widened to allow for two-way traffic, making the layout more simple and efficient for motorists. The shared foot and cycle path remains in place.
Measures aimed at improving the overall safety of the roundabout were also introduced. This included reducing the speed limit to 40mph for traffic heading southbound from Mannington junction towards Blagrove to a point just past the retail park. It also included reducing the speed to 50mph for northbound traffic approaching Mannington from Blagrove.
New street lighting and updated signage has also been installed on this section of the highway network.