Newbury Weekly News

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Thursday, May 11, 2017
NEWBURY VISION2026CONFERENCE
Robin Hood roundabout set for a revamp
PLANS for a major
revamp of Newbury’s
Robin Hood roundabout
have been unveiled.
The proposals would
involve widening the road
outside the fire station to
create a second lane for
Thatcham instead of one.
The council is also
proposing to widen the
roundabout to five lanes
at the end of Shaw Road
and install a traffic island
to separate the traffic
turning left on to the
A4 and straight over to
the A339 towards Sains-
bury’s.
Explaining the proposed
changes at the Newbury
Vision meeting, the coun-
cil’s projects manager,
Jon Winstanley, said: “At
the moment, traffic coming
out of Shaw Road is
immediately hit by a red
light.
“We can unlock that so
the traffic coming from
Shaw Road can carry on
straight through, which
significantly reduces the
queuing on Shaw Road.”
The two-lane approach to
the roundabout from Fara-
day Road would also be
widened to three lanes to
improve capacity.
On the Aldi side, the plan
is to elongate the two-lane
approach to minimise
congestion.
A YouTube video show-
ing how the proposed
scheme would work, is
available to view at
watch?v=AaEZpReHLAk
&feature
No definite date has been
set for the proposed works
as they are dependent on
funding from the north
Newbury development –
which will see up to 400
new homes built in
Donnington.
Plans fortheBearLanedouble roundabout Thedesign fora ‘hamburger’ junction atBearLane Theproposed BearLane flyover
Theproposed new junction onCheap Street
Council explored new
ways to beat congestion
A FLYOVER, a ‘hamburger
junction’ and a double round-
about were all considered by
West Berkshire Council as
ways of easing congestion
around the Sainsbury’s
roundabout in Newbury.
The council’ s projects
manager, Jon Winstanley,
revealed discussions around all
three took place– but none were
considered to be viable.
As reported on the front page
of the Newbury Weekly News
last week, the council is now
consulting on its preferred
option – a new junction divert-
ing traffic from the A339 into
Cheap Street.
Mr Winstanley said: “ I think
most people who use the [Sains-
bury’s] junction are aware that
the main problem on it is the
right hand turns in all direc-
tions basically.
“We looked at numerous
options for this junction.
“One of the obvious options
was taking the junction out
completely and putting in
signal-controlled crossroads.
“That didn’t work. There’s
just not enough capacity on the
approaches.
“More radical solutions
included a hamburger junc-
tion.
“Any of you who have been to
Winnersh in Reading, to the
cinema, have probably been
through a fairly well-estab-
lished one there.
“The premise is the main
route through the A339 would
travel through the centre of the
junction with other trafic
going around it.
“We tried that, but it didn ’t
quite give us the right capacity.
“It had some improvements,
but the other problem with this
as well is that it would be impos-
sible to build in Newbury and
not close Newbury down for up
to a year, which is obviously
unacceptable.”
Referring to the diagram of
the double roundabout, which
the council alsoconsidered, Mr
Winstanley joked that it “looked
like something put together by
a tortured mind”.
“It has its merits,” he said.“It
basically creates two smaller
roundabouts and removes the
conflicts between the right
turns.
“Again, building this would
be very, very difficult and it
didn’t quite give the benefitswe
managed to generate from the
proposed scheme [Cheap Street
junction].
Another option considered by
the council was a flyover or a
tunnel from Bear Lane.
“This is something we ask for
more often than you’d believe,”
said Mr Winstanley.
“We did briefly have a look at
this and it would generate some
improvements, but unless we
could fly in on helicopters I
don’t think we would be able to
construct it.
“Plus, there wasn ’t quite the
space on the A339 to get on and
off of it.”
For the council’s preferred
scheme, it is proposing to create
the new junction on to Cheap
Street to allow traffic travelling
from the north and east to
access the town centre.
This would involve making
Bear Lane one-way eastbound
between Wharf Road and the
A339, meaning motorists
wouldn’t be able to get to The
Wharf via the Sainsbury’ s
roundabout.
The council also wants to
remove the central reservation
on the A339 between the Sains-
bury’s junction and the new
junction to provide a right-turn
lane into Cheap Street.
However, this would mean
parking on Cheap Street south
would be “restricted” to accom-
modate the additional traffic
flow.
It is also proposed to intro-
duce a new pedestriancrossing
on Cheap Street and a mini
roundabout at the Market
Street/Cheap Street junction,
which will replace the current
give way lines.
Flyover among options considered tokeeptraffic flowing through town
Report by DANCOOPER
email dan.cooper@newbur
twitter @danc_nwn
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Newbury Weekly News