NEWTON Abbot's new link road, which connects Wolborough Street with Bradley Lane to join the Highweek Street/Halcyon Road junction, opens at 8pm on Monday.
Until the beginning of next month Highweek Way remains open, but will then close for the road system to serve the new Asda store development when it comes on stream in late September. The new pay-and-display car park next to the Scout building is providing 123 long-stay spaces with a minimum charge for four hours, and on Tuesday a new 90-space long-stay car park opens at Venture Court, off Bradley Lane. The existing Wolborough Street car park and the Bradley Lane car park are to be operated by Asda as pay-and- display for short-term parking. During May, an extension to the Newfoundland Way car park will be completed with an extra 40 spaces, and 50 more are to be created under the Sherborne Road multi-storey. At Wednesday's Newton Abbot Town Council annual public meeting, mayor Cllr Ken Lewis said it was important that drivers got the message that the new road would be open on Monday night and the old road would close early in May. He said: 'The opening of the Asda store can be the making of the town or it can be a problem. It is up to us to make sure it is of benefit to the town. To do that we have to attract people across the road. 'One of the prime things for the summer is to make the town attractive. 'Cllr David Howe and the Britain in Bloom Committee will be doing their best and it is important the town as a whole is a success. 'I am looking forward to Newton Abbot's prosperity and I think we have a part to play in that.' The chairman of Teignbridge Highways and Traffic Orders Committee, Cllr Gordon Hook, urged motorists to take extra care when negotiating the new road layout. 'It will take a little time for the new system to settle down and for drivers to get used to it,' he said. Temporary signs will guide drivers and the changes will be monitored by highways officers and the police. From Monday evening, drivers approaching the Halcyon Road junction from Ashburton and Bovey Tracey wanting to travel to Torquay and Totnes will be directed right at temporary traffic signals on to the link road before going through another set of traffic lights in Wolborough Street. Those wanting access to Market, Bank and Wolborough Streets go straight ahead at the Halcyon Road junction. For the first week the temporary traffic lights at the junction will not permit traffic to go straight ahead into Halcyon Road from the link road and drivers are being diverted via the Jetty Marsh Road. Drivers from the Newfoundland Way/East Street direction will continue to the temporary traffic lights in Wolborough Street, with vehicles for Totnes continuing as normal and those for Ashburton, Bovey Tracey and Kingsteignton going via the link road, while traffic entering the town from Totnes will turn left on to the new carriageway. Eventually Bank Street and Wolborough Street, near St Leonard's Clock Tower, is to be pedestrianised.