Small change in Bagshot leaves a good impression

I drove through Bagshot last week, and couldn’t fail to notice the changes to the village square.

Simply had to go back and visit the square to view the changes, and in doing so the changes gained my admiration. Gone are the untidy parked cars. Now it’s a flexible public space. I haven’t got a comparable photo of the square before the change, the one I’ve posted below is the nearest I’ve got.

Wouldn’t it be great if other Surrey Heath villages had such improvements to their village centres to improve their ambience. I don’t imagine that the budget for this work would be very big.

A brutal pothole on the Maultway

In the week, driving along the Maultway towards Red Road, I failed to miss a pothole in the road. There was a big thump, such that I resolved, later, to take a photo of it, and report it Surrey Highways.

I took that photo this afternoon, and noticed that it had Surrey Highways repair mark. Fine, they’re aware ot it. Not good is that it isn’t considered for emergency repair, because it absolutely brutal.

Here’s a photo of the Red Road road works sign UPDATED

The B311 Red Road, between Heatherside in Camberley and West End that passes by Lightwater, is a busy and important road.

I’m sure I don’t really need to tell you that, also ny road works, accidents, broken down cars cause huge delays, especially during rush hours.

So, when there’s a notice appearing on the road indicating some upcoming road works, vehicles slow down to attempt to read the sign. The signs aren’t large, and the text is small, therefore reading from a moving vehicle is mostly unsuccessful. Here’s a photo of the sign. I’m try and find out more. Click on image to enlarge.

UPDATED: See below photo.

I knew there’d be someone who knows more about this than I do, and of course it’s knowledgeable Speedicus. His comment deserves wider prominence,

speedicus triplicatum

November 6, 2019 at 9:40 am 

I believe they are taking ground samples down to the depth of the proposed Pipeline’s trench – which will cross the Red Road twixt Briar Ave & the Folly Bend at Lightwater Road, before going up to the trackway on the ridge behind the Lake & on to the Guildord Road – the original Trench route (virtually under the Pylons) is apparently sacrosanct due to tree-hugging Sand Lizards – so its seemingly better to devastate mature trees along the old trackway to the Water Mill across the Bypass ….

The Red Road/Maultway roadworks completed

What a relief, no more queuing through the roadworks to recreate the island at the junctions of Red Road, the Maultway, and Upper Chobham Road.

Like many of you, I have grudgingly accepted the time lost to queuing, especially on the Red Road approach to the roadworks. My worst was being in a queue of the fourth traffic light cycle, would’ve been queuing for more than 20 minutes. I’d mentally switched off, otherwise annoyance would’ve overtaken me.

Anyway, the road works are complete. Earlier this week, during the middle of the day I stood by the island and watched the traffic flow. I saw that everything was running smoothly. Thank goodness they did not opt for traffic lights.

The sarsen stone is now nicely positioned, hopefully, in future not to be lost behind scrub.

UPDATE: Can accept a 10 minute traffic delay, not a 2 week road closure

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter Speedicus, see in comments below, I now learn that it’s only a overnight road closure  – SEE HERE – from 8.0pm to 6.0am. Why couldn’t they say so?

The road works creating a new island at the junction of the B311 Red Road, Upper Chobham Road, and the Maultway is causing traffic delays. Yesterday from the queue at S Bends on Red Road I waited 10 minutes till I could to cross over the road works.

A 10 minute delay I can handle, a road closure to two weeks I can’t.

A two week road closure, where did I learn about that. Well, it’s all very odd. Yesterday I saw a warning sign on the Maultway – coming from the A30 – stating that the road would be closed for two weeks from 15-4-2019. Today, when I went to photograph the sign, it wasn’t there.

Have they changed their minds, or was it an error? Whatever. Even thinking about closing the roads around the road works for any length of time is unacceptable.

Attending a Surrey Heath Council meeting 1 of 4: Traffic horrors

The leader of Surrey Heath Borough Council, Cllr Moira Gibson, announced her standing down from the role in January 2019. See press release HERE. An informal reception to recognise Moira’s 21 years as leader of the Council was held after the council meeting on Thursday this week.

As a past mayor I had an invitation the reception. Not having been in the audience for a council meeting for a year or so, I planned to watch the whole meeting.

Leaving home at 6.30 pm for a 7.0pm meeting start, I failed to remember the traffic queue on Red Road. The queue began just prior to Macdonald Road. As the queue moved a little forward I was able to leave the queue, thinking the A30 through Bagshot would be a good idea.

What a bad move that turned out to be. The queues on the A30 were far worse that Red Road. Cllr Valerie White notes how bad is this traffic HERE on her Facebook page.

Morals of this story. Allow more time for local journey’s, and the Red Road traffic queues aren’t quite as bad as the alternatives.

 

Perhaps time to test an alternative route

This warning sign has been in place on Red Road [B311] for a week or more. Perhaps it’s time for users of Red Road to test an alternative route, just in case the dealys are dreadful.

The sarsen stone on the Maultway has been moved, and I missed it

The sarsen stone on the Maultway was moved this morning. Having an extra slice of toast with ginger preserve, and lingering over a second cup of tea, meant that when I turned up to view the event it had already happened.

A kind Skanska site manager has shared his photos of the event. He’s the man in my photo of him next to the stone.

All’s well that ends well, don’t you think.

Lightwater crash in the news

A serious traffic accident on the A322 Lightwater By-pass appears in BBC News. From the photo taken by Neil Toogood, – see below – it appears to have occurred at the crossover junction from the A322 into Guildford Road. This is a sad occurrence for the nine people involved, some seriously. Lightwater residents and others using the crossover will no doubt have witnessed near misses themselves.

Get Surrey has the story also.

Wide sight-lines at junctions improve traffic flow

It is a bold statement to make that wide sight-lines improve traffic flow.

My evidence for this is from observing the traffic flow at peak times at the junction of Red Road, the Maultway, and Upper Chobham Road in Camberley. These roads meet at a substantial traffic island.

All of the roads leading onto the traffic island have suffered from queues. Some road more so than others. There is available data on traffic flows, collected to assist in planning for the new housing at Mindenhurst in Deepcut. I’m not referencing that data here. My statement is from personal observation.

The road works at the island are significant, creating a filter lane from Red Road, turning left into the Maultway, and from the Maultway turning left into Red Road.

From my observations, and I stand to be corrected here by more regular users of the roads I mention, even with the ongoing road works and the dislocation that that causes, the traffic flows have improved, and traffic queues are less than before.

My conclusion is that the improved visibility at the island, from almost from all directions, is the main cause for the improvement. A significant number of trees and scrub has been removed, such that drivers now have a wider area of vision of the traffic. See my photos of the situation as of early yesterday evening. Click on images to expand.