Boundary Road closure. Options

[Exhausted]

What a nightmare the traffic was throughout the town this early morning. The northbound was almost stationary on the A339 from the college roundabout. The only difference appears to have been due to the closure of Boundary Road and the railway bridge. What will happen when the bridge is closed for several weeks to replace the bridge. The town will grind to a standstill.

[Strafin]

I moved to Oxfordshire last year and so rarely get stuck in traffic now, it's lovely!

[blackdog]

What a nightmare the traffic was throughout the town this early morning. The northbound was almost stationary on the A339 from the college roundabout. The only difference appears to have been due to the closure of Boundary Road and the railway bridge. What will happen when the bridge is closed for several weeks to replace the bridge. The town will grind to a standstill.

Several months - it took many months to replace each of the Aldermaston, Brimpton and Padworth bridges.

[MontyPython]

Several months - it took many months to replace each of the Aldermaston, Brimpton and Padworth bridges.

If WBC hadn't backtracked and let the Racecourse developer delay building their bridge we would have presumably had a potential diversionary route with less bottlenecks.

[Andy Capp]

I'm not sure that is the case as there will be no through traffic to the new racecourse development bridge in either direction.

[Washwaterman]

Get rid of the traffic lights on the roundabouts, everything seems to flow much better when they are out.

[MontyPython]

I'm not sure that is the case as there will be no through traffic to the new racecourse development bridge in either direction.

But that is through choice of the developer and WBC. Another case of "the club" winning rather than looking at the infrastructure being put in place for an expanding Newbury.

[blackdog]

If WBC hadn't backtracked and let the Racecourse developer delay building their bridge we would have presumably had a potential diversionary route with less bottlenecks.

WBC had no say in the timing of the bridge building, it would not have been built any quicker no matter what they did.

[MontyPython]

WBC had no say in the timing of the bridge building, it would not have been built any quicker no matter what they did.

Yes they did, they agreed with the developer the change of the number of houses built before the bridge was built. There was a report some time ago regarding the change of planning permission.

[Andy Capp]

The traffic problems due to Boundary Road bridge which caused the OP is due to too few rail/river crossing in Newbury. The Racecourse development bridge would have little or no impact on the current issue because the traffic is not due to the racecourse development. If there was no racecourse development there would still have been a problem if Boundary Road was closed.

[MontyPython]

The traffic problems due to Boundary Road bridge which caused the OP is due to too few rail/river crossing in Newbury. The Racecourse development bridge would have little or no impact on the current issue because the traffic is not due to the racecourse development. If there was no racecourse development there would still have been a problem if Boundary Road was closed.

I meant that the new bridge could have been used as a diversionary route for those who had wanted to use Boundary Road bridge.

[Exhausted]

The traffic problems due to Boundary Road bridge which caused the OP is due to too few rail/river crossing in Newbury. The Racecourse development bridge would have little or no impact on the current issue because the traffic is not due to the racecourse development. If there was no racecourse development there would still have been a problem if Boundary Road was closed.

The racecourse development is having a major impact on traffic. Already there are large numbers of cars coming down Racecourse road from those very homes. Some has been turning right to go down Boundary Road to go towards Thatcham and a fair proportion join the Greenham Road traffic to go into town and towards Andover at the Burger King roundabout. With the bridge closed it is all going that latter route. The old racecourse roads that join into New Road also have to go round that way. Greenham Road backs up, Pyle Hill backs up, the traffic entering Burger King backs up, the Northbound A339 is at a standstill because that traffic has priority and so like this morning again, a 35 min journey between the Swan and Sainsbury's roundabouts.

WBC don't seem to have anything in the master plan to deal with this other than a road through Sterling Estate from the Sainsbury/ SCATs roundabout (eventually).

What I don't understand is how the Racecourse developers got away with not having the road between the two halves of the estate a through road. Surely the council have enough clout that they could have made that a planning condition. Like the Parkway bridge, a waste of a bridge when Newbury so badly needs crossing points.

[blackdog]

Yes they did, they agreed with the developer the change of the number of houses built before the bridge was built. There was a report some time ago regarding the change of planning permission.

The change in the number of houses that could be sold before the bridge was completed had no effect on the building of the bridge, which had already started construction by that time.

[blackdog]

What I don't understand is how the Racecourse developers got away with not having the road between the two halves of the estate a through road. Surely the council have enough clout that they could have made that a planning condition. Like the Parkway bridge, a waste of a bridge when Newbury so badly needs crossing points.

It's difficult to argue against this view - though it is obvious that neither the developer nor the future inhabitants would want a through route drawing traffic through the estate and lowering the value of homes there. One thing that is key and would convince me not to buy there is that the road does go all the way through and there is nothing to stop the bollards being removed in the future after WBC have adopted the road.

[CrackerJack]

I meant that the new bridge could have been used as a diversionary route for those who had wanted to use Boundary Road bridge.

The roads are private and will remain private for a good year or so yet I would think. Even once constructed and completed they will be subject to a long period of inspection and maintenance until they can be used properly by all traffic and are part of the public highway. The maintenance period is to ensure there's no underlying faults with subsoil movement or problems with drainage etc.

The last thing the council wants to do is adopt a poorly constructed road and be responsible for fixing the problem.
The last thing the developer wants to do is let all and sundry use their road while it's still settling in just so they can use a bridge.

Rushing a part of a very major project through or cutting corners with standard procedure just because you want to use a bridge (which may or may not have been completed) would be foolish.

The site is still a construction site. IF the bridge had been available and IF the approach roads could have been used the numbers of rat-runners/commuters would have impacted on construction traffic through the development too - and that impacts on time and time delays impact on developers bottom line.

[Exhausted]

The roads are private and will remain private for a good year or so yet I would think. Even once constructed and completed they will be subject to a long period of inspection and maintenance until they can be used properly by all traffic and are part of the public highway. The maintenance period is to ensure there's no underlying faults with subsoil movement or problems with drainage etc. The last thing the council wants to do is adopt a poorly constructed road and be responsible for fixing the problem. The last thing the developer wants to do is let all and sundry use their road while it's still settling in just so they can use a bridge. Rushing a part of a very major project through or cutting corners with standard procedure just because you want to use a bridge (which may or may not have been completed) would be foolish. The site is still a construction site. IF the bridge had been available and IF the approach roads could have been used the numbers of rat-runners/commuters would have impacted on construction traffic through the development too - and that impacts on time and time delays impact on developers bottom line.

Shall we wait and see then. Somehow I doubt it will happen.

[CrackerJack]

What I don't understand is how the Racecourse developers got away with not having the road between the two halves of the estate a through road. Surely the council have enough clout that they could have made that a planning condition. Like the Parkway bridge, a waste of a bridge when Newbury so badly needs crossing points.

Suddenly an estate road would become a major through route. Anyone from the south of Newbury wanting to go to Reading/Thatcham/join the A4 would use it. The properties of this development are (easily) in the £400k+ bracket. They could never charge anything like that figure if they were going to build a major road through the place. Not the sort of vista that's being promoted by the developer.



The development is for 1,500 homes in total. Not all of them will be coming out this route though so that eases things a bit. Phase 7-11 of the development (800+ dwellings?) will see a large chunk of the flats being built to the east of the station platform. The station is around where the bollards/bus gate is planned to go. They will not be able get out of the development other than by using the new bridge and out onto Hambridge Road. The Racecourse Road/New Road junction is getting busier but it will peak before long and the east end estate people will not be coming out through it

[CrackerJack]

and there is nothing to stop the bollards being removed in the future after WBC have adopted the road.

Oh I think there would be a lot to prevent that from happening - certainly not an easy thing to do on a whim. Big balls would be required and the political will to go against local opinion of the residents of that estate (as opposed to the views of other road users who just want to drive through the place).

It's not the sort of thing WBC could do without a potential big legal battle on their hands I suspect anyway. Any such move would have to go through public consultation. I would imagine the Racecourse and the new residents would object very strongly to having their homes devalued by such a move. Especially when they purchased their properties on the assurance this was in essence a cul-de-sac community. I also imagine that between the lot of them they could amass a considerable sum to help pay the legal fees to challenge the decision in court - something WBC would not be able to match.



I can however see the bollards being subject to casual vandalism - it's amazing the damage a small bag of builders sand can do when it's poured down the sump for rising bollards. Puts them out of action for a week or so and allows traffic to pass through unheeded until repair and the next bag of sand is bought.

[Andy Capp]

All that being said it is ridiculous that West Berks Council don't appear to have any real contingency for the huge infill that is occurring.