A new traffic calming scheme is be trialled on a busy route through a Dorset community to help reduce speeds and improve safety.

Dorset Council is set to implement the scheme - which it will fund - this month on the A354 in Milborne St Andrew between Dorchester and Blandford.

It follows on from a review of traffic management in the area, and a request by the parish council to enhance pedestrian safety and manage vehicle speeds through the village centre.

Although the speed limit is 30mph, the aim of the scheme is to improve pedestrian safety by ensuring vehicles keep to the limit.

READ: New 20mph limit for five Weymouth roads

Computer modelling has demonstrated that a 'priority method of managing traffic flow and speed is possible,' Dorset Council says.

This would be through the construction of an installation that would narrow the road, giving priority to westbound traffic.

Wayne Lewin, parish clerk for Milborne St Andrew Parish Council, said: “This traffic calming project will slow down vehicles and improve pedestrian safety along the very busy A354.”

READ: Dorset Council urged to act on 20mph limits for busy roads

The trial is being introduced before any permanent scheme is installed.

The installation will comprise water-filled interlocking barriers and temporary signs. It will resemble a permanent design to provide ‘real-time’ data.

The temporary layout will be installed during the week commencing Monday, October 14.

The first week will allow drivers to adjust to the new layout, with data collected during the following two weeks from Monday, October 21 and Monday, October 28.

This will enable data to be gathered during the school holidays as well as during a ‘normal’ working week to provide a full range of information.

There will be three cameras and a speed radar in place which will record queue lengths and driver behaviour within the narrowed section and collect speed data.

It will run between the footway, which will stay open, and the road.

READ: Road safety plan unveiled after 10,000 caught speeding

The installation will start outside the Royal Oak pub and finish just past the first house next to the pub, a distance of just under 40 metres.

The structure will make a ‘give and take’ single file lane, with eastbound drivers giving way to westbound vehicles.

Other than during set up and dismantling, there will be no workforce at the site during the three weeks and will be removed on Friday, November 1.

The data collected from the trial will inform a decision on a proposed permanent feature.

If the permanent scheme goes ahead, it will be funded by Milborne St Andrew Parish Council using Section 106 Agreement contributions.