As I faced a 35 mile/45 minute each way drive to get to work in the lovely Newbury each day, I wasn't too enthralled when I learned about the 52 week works programme. As I'd booked last week off (GSTQ), the first time I came across the lights in operation was this Monday as the traffic ground to a sickening halt at the Starr pub. An hour and a bit later, I made it through the lights and hey-ho, a journey that normally took 45 mins had lengthened to almost 2 hours.

What to do?

OPTION 1) Go via the 34/303. REJECTED - weekly fuel bill of £80 would become >£100

OPTION 2) Engage in a good old whine on an on-line forum. REJECTED - topic not related to Parkway or town centre parking charges.

OPTION 3) Set the alarm clock for 30 minutes earlier. WINNER - Journey still takes 45 minutes and I get to spend more time at home in the evening

And if everyone heeded your advice...?

You'd still be queuing for an hour and a half but you'd still arrive 30 minutes earlier.

I've taken to leaving 30 minutes earlier going to Basingstoke (no more than a 10 minute wait so far) and then going through Ecchinswell on the way back. I understand the need for the roadworks but I do wish that the transport links between Newbury and Basingstoke were improved as the A339 can be a bottleneck even with no roadworks.

I also leave earlier, I can't bring myself to rat run through other villages, my opening point in all of this is that its not just for a couple of weeks or a month but 50 weeks, yes 50 weeks ! There must be alternative ways of strengthening a bridge such as this without the need for a very long contract time.

Sainsbury's put up a multi storey car park in about 6 weeks
.

I said to a friend, the Chinese can build a skyscraper in a matter of weeks, maybe a few months for a really fancy one. A year for a small, 50ft bridge? Idiots

OPTION 4) Go via Headley Ford. REJECTED - it's raining again!

What's wrong with Option 2?
A good whinge can usually make the problem go away and we have a related topic!

Oh, nearly forgot........
OPTION 5) Get yourself a motor bike and go straight to the front.

Now you're talking.

whese would be the same 'skyscrapers' that crash to the ground at the first sniff of an earthquake, and at which Europeans all gloat 'never'......

You are from the south - - - - maybe use the A34....

Oh, nearly forgot........
OPTION 5) Get yourself a motor bike and go straight to the front.

I do look at them with envy and hark back to the days when I had the cahoonas to be a biker (passed my test on a DT175 at the tender age of 17), but now, over 1/4 of a century later, I much prefer the gentle tones of Radio 2 wafting over the airwaves in my comfy car.

I appreciate the other suggestions and comments too... thanks

I suppose when this Country has local politicians whose visiion never gets beyond 1959 with a staff whose management syle is stuck in same era - not surprised we see little innovation,

I wouldn't call duboius building practice & lack of adhrence to the law innovation.

I would have thought that to cause this amount of disruption for such a long period all other alternative solutions were looked at but then again when local authorities are involved.....?

Network Rail rebuilt a railway bridge in Whitchurch in less than 3 months.

Don't these things come in sections on the back of a lorry? Surely HCC are not rebuilding it brick by brick?

No, thats exactly what I'm getting at. Our outdated and dubious practices, reinforced by institutionalised prevaracation mean that we fail to innovate. Its the UK way - 'not invented here' and 'we've always done it that way.

And to think George Stephenson would have failed the entry criteria for today's mechanicals.

One guess!

Maybe Hampshire designed the bridge and project plan for their side, and WBC did the same for theirs. The length of the project then arises because our suspension bridge doesn't match their clapper bridge......

A number of us a lot younger than Stephenson wouldn't get in now either!