WORK to transform a busy subway underneath Reading Station will start next month – and should be finished in time for Reading Festival.
Reading Borough Council has said the underpass must be closed to ensure the works are finished in time for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to the town every August bank holiday for a weekend of music.
The work is estimated to cost £400,000 and will see regularly vandalised low-hanging ceiling tiles removed, service ducts protected, and headroom clearance improved. This will allow the subway to be officially used as a cycle path.
A historic cycle ban along the underpass will be officially removed when the refurbished underpass opens, after public consultation carried out last year showed 73% were in favour of the change.
It will also be deep cleaned, and miscellaneous repairs made.
Funding has been partially provided from the Station Hill development.
The underpass will close from 7am on Tuesday, May 7 – the day after the May Day bank holiday – and remain shut until Tuesday, August 20, a total of 16 weeks.
The council said a partial closure would not see the work be completed in time. It also said the works had been delayed while the designs were agreed with Network Rail.
Sam Shean, Reading Borough Council’s Highways and Traffic Services Manager, said: “Regular users of the station underpass will be all too familiar with the unsightly ceiling tiles which are routinely vandalised, and the Council is pleased to finally be able to start the major refurbishment works which, when complete, promises to offer a significantly more attractive and welcoming route between the two sides of the station.
“The removal of the historic cycling restriction when it opens will also deliver another key strategic cycle route through the town, linking Christchurch Bridge and the Caversham side of Reading Station to the town centre.
“Before that, there will be the obvious inconvenience of a 16-week closure which we had hoped to avoid, but this was ultimately not possible if we are to get the subway open for the Reading Festival where it is an essential piece of infrastructure in getting many thousands of visitors to and from the festival site safely.”
He continued: “A fully signed diversion will be in place while the improvement works takes place and we are pleased to have negotiated a direct route through the station with Network Rail for the full duration of the closure for disabled residents.
“In the meantime, we would advise regular users of the underpass to build some extra time into their journeys whilst these important improvements take place and we thank them for their patience.”
A fully signed diversion will be in place for the 16-week closure.
Approaching from the Caversham side, the diversion will be along Trooper Potts Way, Vastern Road, turning right at the Vastern Road roundabout and then right again on Forbury Road to the town centre side of the station, and reversed if approaching from the town centre side.
Should residents wish to access areas to the west of the station, they can go west along Vastern Road and then south along Caversham Road.
The Council says it has negotiated with Network Rail for disabled residents to be provided with access directly through Reading Station. Disabled access will be granted upon request.
