A331 roadworks

Author
Discussion

Mr Tidy

22,065 posts

126 months

Saturday 10th December 2016
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pdavison said:
So the roadworks have gone but the work doesn't appear finished! How long can it take to build a path ... grrr
As long as they can get away with - it took over 6 months to build a roundabout near Broadmoor and is taking nearly 3 years to make 20 or so miles of the M3 "smart"!

Based on that I would estimate a path build at 12 to 18 months - so long as there are no weather issues or other "outside" factors, like traffic!!!

If you get invited to a p*ss-up in a brewery don't even think of replying - you may be dead before it happens! laugh





pdavison

1,637 posts

276 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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Stop the press, breaking news: Spotted this morning two people walking along the newly created footpath!






Perhaps they were lost?

Trevatanus

11,109 posts

149 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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pdavison said:
Stop the press, breaking news: Spotted this morning two people walking along the newly created footpath!






Perhaps they were lost?
They were council workers on a "PR Exercise" I would wager wink

FurtiveFreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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They'll be extras paid to walk up and down it all day to justify the expense and disruption!

davek_964

8,796 posts

174 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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pdavison said:
Stop the press, breaking news: Spotted this morning two people walking along the newly created footpath!






Perhaps they were lost?
I went out for a run yesterday morning, and I'm pretty sure the sign was still up saying that there is no public access. So they are clearly rebels.

FurtiveFreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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Maybe they are ghosts of people who have died trying to walk to Sainsbury's in olden times eek

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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I don't get this cycle path along the A331. And I'm a huge fan of cycling. Why did they not just give the existing path alongside the River Blackwater an all-weather surface?

I've not gotten caught up in traffic delays due to these works, or not that I noticed anyway. Traffic is crap around the Meadows Roundabout anyway.

But back to the cycle path. It could surely run closer to the river. It's nicer down there, the air is cleaner, and it's well away from what is a very busy road. There's room for improved access under the A30 at the hump-back bridge near Blackwater Station, but I'm sure that's a surmountable problem. That'd be far safer than crossing the various entry points on the A331/A30 roundabout. Then there's a straight run all the way to Frimley Business Park and Farnborough North Station, more or less. Taking a spur off the riverside path would then bring cyclists up to a traffic light controlled crossing point outside Sainsburys. Not that there's a great deal of demand for cycling to Sainsburys really. There are stores easier and safer to ride to in Camberley and Farnborough for a start.

It's mad that so much time, cash, and disruption is wasted in the name of "cycling infrastructure". I can't see the demand for it from cyclists, and it just stokes the fires of frustration and plain old hatred of cyclists on the part of drivers. But then the LAs responsible for the BVP (Blackwater Valley Path) cannot even force the scummy scrapyard owner to keep the BVP open over his land around North Camp Station, so much of the BVP is falling into disrepair between North Camp and Farnham now. It used to be a really attractive 'leisure path' but it now looks like you'd need a machete to just get down it.

A continuous Right of Way over it (the BVP), a full length sealed surface, and a few more pedestrian/cyclist crossing points (over river and railway) to access it from large residential areas along/near the route might actually see a rise in the uptake of cycling as a realistic alternative to car journeys. Something that a never-swept cycle path alongside a busy multi-lane dual carriageway will probably not achieve in a month of Sundays. That, and the fact that apart from large lorries accessing work sites, there'd be no real disruption to local roads if all the work was taking place on the existing riverside path.

Sorry if any of that has been covered before, but I haven't read the bulk of the thread - I only found it today.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Monday 12th December 2016
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I wonder if Sainsbury's made a contribution?

Mr Tidy

22,065 posts

126 months

Tuesday 13th December 2016
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yellowjack said:
I don't get this cycle path along the A331. And I'm a huge fan of cycling. Why did they not just give the existing path alongside the River Blackwater an all-weather surface?

I've not gotten caught up in traffic delays due to these works, or not that I noticed anyway. Traffic is crap around the Meadows Roundabout anyway.

But back to the cycle path. It could surely run closer to the river. It's nicer down there, the air is cleaner, and it's well away from what is a very busy road. There's room for improved access under the A30 at the hump-back bridge near Blackwater Station, but I'm sure that's a surmountable problem. That'd be far safer than crossing the various entry points on the A331/A30 roundabout. Then there's a straight run all the way to Frimley Business Park and Farnborough North Station, more or less. Taking a spur off the riverside path would then bring cyclists up to a traffic light controlled crossing point outside Sainsburys. Not that there's a great deal of demand for cycling to Sainsburys really. There are stores easier and safer to ride to in Camberley and Farnborough for a start.

It's mad that so much time, cash, and disruption is wasted in the name of "cycling infrastructure". I can't see the demand for it from cyclists, and it just stokes the fires of frustration and plain old hatred of cyclists on the part of drivers. But then the LAs responsible for the BVP (Blackwater Valley Path) cannot even force the scummy scrapyard owner to keep the BVP open over his land around North Camp Station, so much of the BVP is falling into disrepair between North Camp and Farnham now. It used to be a really attractive 'leisure path' but it now looks like you'd need a machete to just get down it.

A continuous Right of Way over it (the BVP), a full length sealed surface, and a few more pedestrian/cyclist crossing points (over river and railway) to access it from large residential areas along/near the route might actually see a rise in the uptake of cycling as a realistic alternative to car journeys. Something that a never-swept cycle path alongside a busy multi-lane dual carriageway will probably not achieve in a month of Sundays. That, and the fact that apart from large lorries accessing work sites, there'd be no real disruption to local roads if all the work was taking place on the existing riverside path.

Sorry if any of that has been covered before, but I haven't read the bulk of the thread - I only found it today.
On yer bike. laugh

For anyone else it is miserable! mad

AlexRS2782

8,025 posts

212 months

Friday 16th December 2016
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Bloody hell at some point they've laid some brand new tarmac and painted new lines at the Riverside Way junction, rather than just patching up the existing area they'd cut into eek

On a side note one of the contractors either had a death wish, or hadn't had his McCafe / Costa, etc, this morning after he ambled out at the Riverside Way junction, just as the lights went green, in his attempt to cross the road. A loud blast of the horn from the HGV he stepped in front of seemed to wake him up pretty quickly laugh

SVTRick

3,633 posts

194 months

Saturday 17th December 2016
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AlexRS2782 said:
On a side note one of the contractors either had a death wish, or hadn't had his McCafe / Costa, etc, this morning after he ambled out at the Riverside Way junction, just as the lights went green, in his attempt to cross the road. A loud blast of the horn from the HGV he stepped in front of seemed to wake him up pretty quickly laugh
That may have been me, was it a very large rigid tanker?
Some nugget did just that looked like he had ear phones in, anyway scared the st out of him as I was at full power in 6+ (splitter)and kept my foot in it.
And its not the first time had a tt on a moped that decided the verge onto the road was a legit short cut.

AlexRS2782

8,025 posts

212 months

Saturday 17th December 2016
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SVTRick said:
That may have been me, was it a very large rigid tanker?
Some nugget did just that looked like he had ear phones in, anyway scared the st out of him as I was at full power in 6+ (splitter)and kept my foot in it.
And its not the first time had a tt on a moped that decided the verge onto the road was a legit short cut.
No not you i'm afraid frown but a Wilko delivery lorry.


Keith ctr

233 posts

173 months

Sunday 18th December 2016
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Unfortunately the light sequence is still stupidly short between one going red and the other green. I've taken extra care pulling out of Riverside Way this week due to this plus now two lanes are open people are driving like tts again, 60, 70+ (it's still a 40!!) so it won't be long before another nasty at this junction.

Hopefully when the new sets of lights go up they'll sort the timing issues out.

AlexRS2782

8,025 posts

212 months

Thursday 5th January 2017
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A heads up for anyone that may not have driven down the A331 yet this year.

The misery of the combined cycle / foot path is set to kick back into full swing on Monday 9th January and based on current positioning of the (currently reversed) signs and the cones on the verge on the side heading towards Blackwater, it looks like it could be down to just 1 lane on both sides at some points frown

If you believe the electronic signage it's evidently only going to take them 6 weeks to finish it all off, but I guess we should allow for up to 3 months just incase it runs on rolleyes

The electronic sign also nicely reminds you to expect congestion during this time period - no st, I think we understood that from last year banghead

FurtiveFreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Thursday 5th January 2017
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mad

Trevatanus

11,109 posts

149 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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I am sure that they said that the lane closures would only be happening outside of rush hours, ie after 9.30, that's not the case though.
Interestingly when I went through this morning after queuing for 20 minutes to do so, a roadworker was kicking cones out into the road to close a lane, but another part of the road, further up, was already coned off, phoned Surrey Heath to query this, she put me on hold for 10 minutes, then came back and said she would get someone to call me back after investigating.
Still waiting......

AlexRS2782

8,025 posts

212 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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Although one bonus is, despite a partial lane closure, at least the traffic is currently flowing better towards The Meadows roundabout since they stopped right hand turns and also turned off the lights at Stanhope road.

Trevatanus

11,109 posts

149 months

Thursday 19th January 2017
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Lets hope that the Fire Engine that was stationary at the Meadows roundabout for about 3 minutes this morning wasn't going to a life or death call....

frown


Trevatanus

11,109 posts

149 months

Thursday 19th January 2017
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"Firstly please accept my apologies for the current delays caused by our construction works.

Following our conversation earlier today, I have spoken to our contractors regarding the current traffic management layout. Unfortunately the lane closures need to remain in place for the safety of the road users, workers and pedestrians. Although it seems no works are taking place, I can assure you that this is not the case for example over the past week they have been replacing cables, duct connections and installing new traffic signals. Most of this work has been carried out off-carriageway.

Despite the difficulties involved with these works, I am pleased to advise you that these works are on track to finish on Monday 30 January 2017"

Keith ctr

233 posts

173 months

Thursday 19th January 2017
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Safety isn't helped by this tool parking his van here several mornings this week, blocking peoples view trying to pull out of Stanhope Road!

If anyone is in contact with the Highways Agency or the contractor please send this picture to them.