WORK to improve the safety of a hazardous roundabout has finally started.

The £200,000 scheme of safety measures on the A46 Salford Priors roundabout, dubbed 'suicide island' by some motorists because of the danger caused by speeding drivers crossing the island from the northbound carriageway, began on Monday and is expected to take six weeks to complete.

It will start with kerb-realignment to lessen drivers' visibility of the island and include resurfacing of the northbound carriageway, replacing white lines and erecting new countdown signs.

Yellow bar markings will be introduced to reduce motorists' speed on the approach to the roundabout and anti-skid surfacing will be applied to the northbound and southbound approaches.

The work had been due to start in February, but was delayed because of the Cheltenham Festival, which finished last Thursday.

Highways Agency route sponsor Bob Bilbie said: "The work will involve a wide range of maintenance and improvement work to the A46 at Salford Priors, extending to two 500m sections either side of the roundabout.

"We will start work at 7.30am and continue through until 5pm on weekdays and from 7.30am to 1pm on Saturdays. Traffic management will include lane closures and a variable speed limit of between 10mph and 40mph, with traffic in convoy during some of the work as necessary."

Rushford resident Doug Wathen, who has campaigned for changes to the roundabout since it was first opened as part of the A46 Norton Lenchwick bypass in 1995, said: "It's better late than never.

"What I'm really hoping for is that the work they are doing will enable drivers to have more confidence when using the roundabout.

"I hope that the Highways Agency will have learned something from this exercise for the future building of safer roads."