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July news
Albert Road just keeps on getting better
Work to dramatically improve the area of Albert Road around the Kings Theatre is due to start on Monday 14 July.
The city council scheme will make the area more colourful and create a shared open space for pedestrians and drivers.
It follows other work to make the road more attractive, including safety improvements at accident hotspots, colourful street banners and events such as last year's Love Albert Road festival and the cycling day in May.
Samantha Fay, Southsea's town centre manager, said: "The improvements around the Kings Theatre will be the final part of work to brighten up Albert Road and make it more pedestrian-friendly.
"The pavements are being lowered to road level, creating an attractive public space where drivers slow down and pedestrians feel they have more freedom.
The work is taking place around the Theatre and includes widening pavements to make them safer for pedestrians and lowering kerbs to give a more continental feel. This means that restaurants and bars will be able to have tables outside - subject to an amenity license - with attractive bollards to keep cars off pavements.
Samantha Fay added:"These improvements are what resident and traders told us they wanted. The theme from the public consultation is Theatre which you'll see emerging around the streetscape. The consultation also highlighted colour as a priority and a bright red is being used throughout the scheme.
"There will be some noise when the council's contractors Colas start work, as some drains are being altered and this needs large machinery. Once the drainage is finished the new pavement edges will be built and lamp columns moved. Eventually the new colourful pavements are installed along with bright bollards and some striking theatre features. The last job will be to resurface the road and add a touch of colour to the pavements."
Businesses will be open as usual, although at times sections of the road will be closed off. Signals will keep the traffic flowing.
The work should be completed by Love Albert Road Day on 28 September, but if there are any problems Colas will stop work for that weekend only to make sure the festival can go ahead. Most of the work should be completed in eight weeks but additional time has been built in to take account of bad weather or other unexpected problems.
Posters about the scheme are going up inside shops along the road and at www.portsmouth.gov.uk.
