Chowns Mill junction workers dig deep for charity as road scheme opens

Construction workers who remodelled a bottleneck junction dug deep to help provide gifts for the community in the area, as work on the project comes to an end.

As work to transform the A45/A6 Chowns Mill roundabout reached its conclusion, those working on the National Highways' project have taken part in one final initiative to help out community groups.

Contractors working on the Northamptonshire roundabout improvements have given up their time in a series of projects intended to ‘give back’ to the local community.

The latest effort saw a cheque for £710, donated by contractors and workers, handed over to the local food banks of Raunds, Rushden and Irthlingborough and the district branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL).

Amanda Mauro from the East Northants Community Services Food Bank and Steve Thatcher from the RBL visited the site to receive the donation - just as the final trees were being planted to finish off the £24m scheme.

Since work began on the junction improvements in February last year, those working on the scheme have supplied more than £3,000 of items to three local food banks.

The team has also been involved in donating trees, fencing, seats and cones, helped with traffic management at Stanwick Lakes and given £3,000 to help young people at risk of becoming involved in violence or gangs to benefit from the work of the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV).

National Highways project manager, Dean Holloway, said: “The extensive improvements we have made at Chowns Mill roundabout mean that traffic is now flowing more freely through the junction and pedestrians can cross safely thanks to the new traffic lights installed.

“But we know that carrying out such major improvements can be disruptive for road users and local people while the work takes place which is why we like to ‘give back’ to communities where possible.

“We have been very fortunate that our contractors have been both extremely generous and enthusiastic in carrying out initiatives to support the communities and local people who have been so understanding while this work was carried out.”

To tackle problems of congestion and frequent collisions, National Highways created a ‘half hamburger’ roundabout at the Chowns Mill junction and widened the roads approaching the roundabout to create extra capacity for traffic.

Pedestrians and cyclists can also use the junction more safely thanks to new traffic lights.