Have your say: Online information on latest changes to Black Cat roundabout
A special online information event is being held ahead of road layout changes at the Black Cat roundabout.
The event has been organised ahead of four new sections of road opening to traffic linking the roundabout with the existing road network, from Monday, August 18.
Motorists have been warned to only travel if necessary during the latest set of roadworks, scheduled to take place between August 15 and 18.
This will change how vehicles travel through the junction and the event will be an opportunity for National Highways to explain how the new road system will work.
Register here to attend the event on August 12, from from 6pm to 7pm when experts will offer an in-depth look at the upcoming traffic layout changes and answer questions that are submitted prior to the event.
This event will also focus on the traffic management aspect of works currently taking place at the Black Cat.
Speakers will include Francis Mitchell, Construction Manager, Skanska UK and Paul Salmon, Senior Project Manager, National Highways.
As part of the new A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet road improvements the roundabout will make way for a new free-flowing junction. Work is expected to be completed by early next year.
The roundabout, a local icon, takes its name from a garage, opened in the 1920s, when a black cat featured on the garage clock tower.
Over the years the garage was converted to a nightclub and later a restaurant. It then became derelict until a petrol station was opened in the 1980s.
In January 2004 the first black cat statue appeared and over the years has suffered some mishaps, including going missing in 2007. It was replaced in August 2008 and was later vandalised but restored and replaced in 2015.
A few years of calm followed, until the black cat was vandalised with white spray paint in 2019. A couple of months later it was joined by some black kittens to keep it company!
Since work started, the black cat has been in hiding but National Highways have said ‘the cat will be pampered and well looked after to make sure she’s purring once the junction reopens and she's returned’.