Thatcham Railway Crossing, £83k wasted! Options

[Biker1]

My opinion is that Newbury/Thatcham now needs an Eastern by-pass as well as the existing Western by-pass. Something like the Oxford ring road.

Why would you need the Western By-pass if you had an Eastern one?

[motormad]

Yes.

I like the idea but realistically where can you do that from?
There is no easy way to link the A339 with the A4 (Bath Road) and likewise, the M4 is miles away in the opposite direction.

I think that would be even more difficult than simply sorting a bridge.

[Simon Kirby]

Why would you need the Western By-pass if you had an Eastern one?

An eastern by-pass would have handled the A339 better and taken more traffic from going through town, but without the western bypass you'd have the problem of all the traffic coming and going with the western A4 and the cross-town traffic from the west getting onto the bypass.

A full ring road is the best option.

[Simon Kirby]

I like the idea but realistically where can you do that from?
There is no easy way to link the A339 with the A4 (Bath Road) and likewise, the M4 is miles away in the opposite direction.

I think that would be even more difficult than simply sorting a bridge.

It would be hugely more difficult that just building a bridge, but the bridge wouldn't by itself solve very much, because the traffic that is currently avoiding the snarl-fest that is the Thatcham Rail Crossing will start to use the shiny new bridge until the congestion is just as bad because of the limited capacity of the minor roads on either side. And while we vacillate Newbury and Thatcham grows, and it grows across the path of the new roads that we should be building now, so by the time we need all that infrastructure we no longer have anywhere to put it.

I think one answer would be to widen the Crookham Hill and Thornford Road to connect the A4 with the A339, and then push the A339 through along the Enborne to join the Andover Road at Wash Water. It would also help to take the eastern bypass up to the A339/A34 and build a roundabout junction. That's ten times the effort of just building a bridge, but we'll need it soon enough and now's a good time to build it while the ecconomy could do with a boost and the required land is relatively undeveloped.

[spartacus]

Isn't it rather odd that the preferred solution at Ufton, just a few miles up the line is a bridge?

Preferred solution for Network Rail maybe, as long as someone else is picking up the bill. A quote from some bod at Network Rail who knows there's even less chance of that being a site for a bridge. It may have less interference from problems such as the canal, river, building, businesses and pubs... but this is a road that's used by about 10 cars an hour at peak times... A bridge is still going to cost several million due to the height required to clear the electrification and who is seriously going to release that amount of capital on such a minor, minor road?

[spartacus]

I think one answer would be to widen the Crookham Hill and Thornford Road to connect the A4 with the A339, and then push the A339 through along the Enborne to join the Andover Road at Wash Water. It would also help to take the eastern bypass up to the A339/A34 and build a roundabout junction.

I'll lay money on there being an endangered mollusc the size of a fingernail somewhere along that route.....

[Berkshirelad]

I notice that the Cllr concerned bemoans traffic crossing the double white lines to pass stationary traffic to turn right into Royal Mail.

This is perfectly legal.

[On the edge]

Preferred solution for Network Rail maybe, as long as someone else is picking up the bill. A quote from some bod at Network Rail who knows there's even less chance of that being a site for a bridge. It may have less interference from problems such as the canal, river, building, businesses and pubs... but this is a road that's used by about 10 cars an hour at peak times... A bridge is still going to cost several million due to the height required to clear the electrification and who is seriously going to release that amount of capital on such a minor, minor road?

Then why has an apparently responsible public service organisation made the recommendation?

[Biker1]

A full ring road is the best option.

If only every town in Britain had one of those.
There are many towns that have a level crossing right in the High Street and they put up with that.
There are many major roads across the country that also have them, causing severe hold ups.
I think maybe Thatcham may be well down the list.
Still, concrete and tarmac and be damned eh?

[spartacus]

Then why has an apparently responsible public service organisation made the recommendation?

It's the way business works when there's a significant piece of work that needs doing but you don't want your company to pay for it and have your shareholders baying for your blood..... You point to the solution, make sure you've been heard, then look away and start whistling tunelessly..... Especially if there's a chance of the Finger of Blame being pointed when nothing ever actually materialises so you can at least say you came up with a solution...

[spartacus]

There are many towns that have a level crossing right in the High Street and they put up with that.
There are many major roads across the country that also have them, causing severe hold ups.

I think you need to reconsider your definition of the word 'many'.... We're talking about a rail link through a town that's High Speed as well as the clunky old Low Speed wagons?

[Biker1]

I think you need to reconsider your definition of the word 'many'.... We're talking about a rail link through a town that's High Speed as well as the clunky old Low Speed wagons?

I won't bother to start to list them but there are "many".
What difference does it make what speed the trains pass through the crossing?
They still cause hold ups to road traffic when closed.

[motormad]

If only every town in Britain had one of those.
There are many towns that have a level crossing right in the High Street and they put up with that.
There are many major roads across the country that also have them, causing severe hold ups.
I think maybe Thatcham may be well down the list.
Still, concrete and tarmac and be damned eh?

What major roads is that?
There's only one other I've come across which is over towards Petersfield near the VW Dealer.

[Biker1]

What major roads is that?
There's only one other I've come across which is over towards Petersfield near the VW Dealer.

I won't bother to list them but there are plenty.
Here's one for example.

[Simon Kirby]

I don't see the existing traffic hold-ups at the crossing as the major problem here, what I think is the more significant issue is the lack of the eastern bypass. If we don't put the by-pass in while we still can we'll never get the chance again and Newcham will slowly strangle itself as it grows. Put the by-pass in now and we can actually benefit from the growth with jobs and leisure.

It's not that I'm in love with concrete and tarmac, it's more that I'm not afraid of them - as it happens I probably enjoy the greenery of our countryside more than most. Point is that well planned infrastructure and a quality built environment actually creates much more greenery and wildlife habitat and makes for a much better place to live than somewhere that's repressed about its traffic and growth and consequently makes a half-arsed job of accommodating it.

[On the edge]

I don't see the existing traffic hold-ups at the crossing as the major problem here, what I think is the more significant issue is the lack of the eastern bypass. If we don't put the by-pass in while we still can we'll never get the chance again and Newcham will slowly strangle itself as it grows. Put the by-pass in now and we can actually benefit from the growth with jobs and leisure.

It's not that I'm in love with concrete and tarmac, it's more that I'm not afraid of them - as it happens I probably enjoy the greenery of our countryside more than most. Point is that well planned infrastructure and a quality built environment actually creates much more greenery and wildlife habitat and makes for a much better place to live than somewhere that's repressed about its traffic and growth and consequently makes a half-arsed job of accommodating it.

Quite agree and all we need is a cohesive plan - which surely can't be that difficult.

[blackdog]

Quite agree and all we need is a cohesive plan - which surely can't be that difficult.

I think we need a lot more than a plan - some money and the will to carry out the plan would help.

Chances of this happening - pretty close to zero.

[NWNREADER]

With (Local) Government finance you have to have the plan before you can get the money. How much should the Council spend on scoping something that will 'obviously' be unaffordable through local funding, and which does not fit any criteria for central support?
It may be on a wish list (or maybe not!) but I doubt it will move to a next stage without some other hope/need for funding on the horizon.
(And I think the bridge should've been built way back, before the industrial & housing estates went in)

[Cognosco]

With (Local) Government finance you have to have the plan before you can get the money. How much should the Council spend on scoping something that will 'obviously' be unaffordable through local funding, and which does not fit any criteria for central support?
It may be on a wish list (or maybe not!) but I doubt it will move to a next stage without some other hope/need for funding on the horizon.
(And I think the bridge should've been built way back, before the industrial & housing estates went in)

WBC don't do Proactive only Reactive. Like "Supreme Leader we have a problem"

I would have thought it obvious when the bypass was built that it would not be too long before all land was built over up to it and yet there has never been any mention of new roads or other infrastructure!
Newbury and Thatcham will have to grow so the problems of infrastructure need to be planned now and the problem of railways and canals need to be planned for not left as usual until they find out we have no land left to build roads and bridges across them as has happened so often in the past.

Sorry I forgot myself for a moment there and forgot we are dealing with WBC so no chance of this happening is there?

[NWNREADER]

WBC don't do Proactive only Reactive. Like "Supreme Leader we have a problem"

That is my point - it is difficult for Councils to spend on future planning unless they have a very robust and visionary long-term strategic plan that has central Government support - which falls in any case if the government changes. All the time BCC/WBC were pushing for a by-pass, any plan that would've warped that study would have put the by-pass plan on hold again.
Not an apology for WBC, just pointing out they (and other Councils) are rather hog-tied by 'procedure'.

If further housing goes on east of Floral Way the situation will doubtless get worse as Basingstoke is a major employment hub.