Forthcoming disruption to the A1122

[Apple]

Some time in February 2012 the river bridge on the A1122, (the one nearer the junction with Lady Drove), is to undergo refurbishment, including the installation of the sewer to take the poo of Barroway Drove, over the water and onto its final destination.

Not sure yet if the A1122 will be closed altogether, or will be down to single, alternate file traffic, controlled by traffic lights.

Either way, there will be delays!

Work is expected to take 'about a week', so allow two at least!

[Tim]

I was wondering if they were doing the sewer at the moment but I guess not.

[Apple]

The bridge is currently undergoing an inspection so they can decide what needs doing by way of maintenance, and how they are going to route the new sewer across it. I have the impression, from what I was told, that this will be a fairly substantial 'semi-rebuild', and if they are thinking of closing the road altogether, it certainly sounds serious.

[nennyrainbow]

That will be a real nuisance for anyone who works or goes to school in Downham if they close it. From here I guess the quickest way to Downham will be via Stowbridge & Wimbotsham - I'm sure the inhabitants of those villages will love that. Hopefully they'll do it over half term when there is less traffic. And any rail commuters are going to have to add an extra 15-20 mins onto their (already long journeys) to get to the station.

[Apple]

If the bridge is closed to traffic, it may be that it remains open to pedestrians, so anyone who has a lift to the station (as opposed to driving & parking there) could be dropped off this side of the bridge and get to the station on foot, but as for traffic, well, as you say, it is a matter of going via Stowbridge & Wimbotsham, or Nordelph, Welney and back up the A10. Neither are short journeys, and even if they uses single, alternate line traffic, there will still be big delays morning and afternoon.

Hopefully NCC will make public more detailed plans nearer the time.

[Apple]

The Barhale chap told me that, as he understands it, the road will not be closed, but will be down to single, alternate line traffic as they will be stripping off the surface and re-waterproofing the bridge structure and then resurfacing it, one side at a time. At the same time the new sewer pipe will be set in place. This will probably fit in with the laying for the sewer pipe in the fields alongside Lady Drove from the village to DM.

Looks as if there will be delays, but not a total road closure, thank goodness!

[nennyrainbow]

Well that WAS a nightmare. The temporary traffic lights on the bridge were giving equal priority to traffic coming out of Downham as to traffic going in, despite the fact that there are approx 10 x as many vehicles going in as coming out during morning rush hour. So there was a stationary / very slow moving (1st gear stopping and starting) queue on the A1122 all the way back to Salters Lode at 8.40 this morning. Took me another 30 mins to get over the bridge. Coming back was a lot faster as I went through on the first change of lights but there was still a mile long queue of traffic waiting to come in. Am about to phone the council to see if they can alter the priority in the mornings, but in the meantime would advise anyone to consider using another route (eg via Stowbridge) or else be prepared for long delays.

[Abbey]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Seeing as I got to the top of lady drove to find it shut towards stowbridge , none of the workmen remotely interested in the total chaos they were causing ,  instead preferring to ignore the fact that they had caused a completely dangerous situation by making all traffic turn left straight into the path of the traffic coming down from nordelph on the wrong side of the road.   We then had to go back into downham and home via stowbridge thanks to them . Apparently according to Brian the site manager , the whole junction is going to be shut until thursday . God only knows what the school bus is going to do . 

[Apple]

Well that WAS a nightmare. The temporary traffic lights on the bridge were giving equal priority to traffic coming out of Downham as to traffic going in, despite the fact that there are approx 10 x as many vehicles going in as coming out during morning rush hour. So there was a stationary / very slow moving (1st gear stopping and starting) queue on the A1122 all the way back to Salters Lode at 8.40 this morning. Took me another 30 mins to get over the bridge. Coming back was a lot faster as I went through on the first change of lights but there was still a mile long queue of traffic waiting to come in. Am about to phone the council to see if they can alter the priority in the mornings, but in the meantime would advise anyone to consider using another route (eg via Stowbridge) or else be prepared for long delays.

I have been away for a couple of days but the traffic lights were in place before I went, and on Monday morning were causing queues into DM. What really annoyed me was that there was no-one there doing anything at all in the coned-off section, and the one hole they had dug was well onto the verge just this side of the Factory Shop. There was no need at all, (at least at that time) to have closed one side of the road and to have these damned traffic lights screwing up everything for so many people.

I think that, as well as complaining to NCC, (who will do nothing, as usual), if you are really annoyed by this stupidity you should complain to the police about what is actually an obstruction of the highway.

I think we all have to accept that some works are necessary and that there will be disruption, BUT it is incumbent upon those doing the work to minimise the disruption to the travelling public, and clearly they are failing in that duty by not bothering to phase the lights in accordance with conditions.

Remember when they used to use stop/go boards operated by a Human instead of a damned computer? Grrrrr!

[Apple]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Seeing as I got to the top of lady drove to find it shut towards stowbridge , none of the workmen remotely interested in the total chaos they were causing ,  instead preferring to ignore the fact that they had caused a completely dangerous situation by making all traffic turn left straight into the path of the traffic coming down from nordelph on the wrong side of the road.   We then had to go back into downham and home via stowbridge thanks to them . Apparently according to Brian the site manager , the whole junction is going to be shut until thursday . God only knows what the school bus is going to do . 

The 'Road Closed' signs are all well and good but the problem is that the road is only physically closed at one point and that point keeps moving as work progresses. I think the whole situation would be easier there was a specific point at which the road was physically closed, and then we would all know where we stand. As it is, unless you know each day where the work is being carried out you do not really know which way to approach the village in order to gain access to your destination within the village.

I think some of the problem stems from the fact that, over past weeks, people have found that they can squeeze/force their way past the roadworks despite the 'Road Closed' signs, and those who wish to pass through the village in order to reach a further destination now habitually ignore the closure order. This increases the volume of traffic and makes life difficult for those who genuinely need to ignore the closure signs because their destination is within the area of the works.

The diversion routes could be better signposted too, and an 'ignore your sat nav' sign would perhaps help keep the number of itinerant HGVs down.

Since the school busses fall under the ultimate control of NCC, who have granted the road closure order, one should expect them to have made alternative arrangements...... BUT... this is NCC, so doubtless they will have 'overlooked' it.

Once the sewerage system is installed we can probably look forward to all this again when they finally do something about the awful state of the roads. Incidentally, I spoke a while ago to a senior person at AW about the sewerage system and commented that I assumed that placing the pipe from the village to DM in the field instead of under the road would be done because it was cheaper. He told me that having seen the state of Lady Drove they felt they had to place it in the field because the road is so weak, and so subject to subsidence, that any pipe placed under it would be forever in need of repair when it breaks.

[Apple]

Just a footnote to all this.

I had assumed that the current traffic lights and restrictions on the A1122 at, and between the bridges was to do with the forthcoming bridge works and/or the laying of a sewer pipe to which the new pipe from the village will be connected.

Today, as I past the area of the works on the A1122 I noticed that there were a load of UK Power Network vehicles there because they are actually renewing the overhead power lines.

Nothing to do with bridge works or the sewerage system, so the bridge works will, presumably, follow after all this, but bring a similar effect.

Ah! the joys of an integrated and structured public service system eh?

[Tim]

Yes, they dig a big channel all the way through the village and the only thing they put in it is a pipe to carry s**t.  Could have added some fibre optics to the hole so if we ever get into the 21st century the infrastructure was there.

Mind you I work on a road in London that is in constant flux, for a period of time a few years ago the traffic lights would disappear on the Friday and reappear on the Monday as the same contractor usually came back to dig up the same bit of road again to put in another service.

If I remember I'll try to get a photograph of it at some point it looks quite amusing, the road is just one huge patch job of trenches.

Tim

[Apple]

I could not agree more!

While there was all that disruption they could have been laying the sewer along with fibre optic & a gas main, and they could also have rid us of the eyesore of overhead cables for power and phone. It may have required a larger trench, but the upheaval would have been the same.

As it is, the only thing other than the sewer pipe that is in that trench is the cable to carry signals to the vacuum station to tell it when a pot is full.

Grrrr.