Letter: Bridge Plans Need Urgent Reconsideration

Published on: 7 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 6 Jan, 2018

Traffic on Farnham Road Bridge

From Maurice Barham

secretary of the Guildford Society Transport Group

On December 13, the Guildford Local Committee, which meets only four times a year, dealt with a 109-page agenda package in just 25 minutes, including public questions. A written question was not dealt with. A routine report on highway improvements and maintenance gave information on imminent repairs by Network Rail (NR) to two railway bridges.

The New Pond Road bridge is to be rebuilt between March and July 2018. Diversions to reach the nearest alternative bridge at Peasmarsh will need routes through Puttenham, the A31, the Guildford gyratory and the Portsmouth Road, showing how vital these few rail crossings are.

The New Pond Road bridge one is narrow, with no facilities for pedestrians or cyclists and it presents a fearsome blind spot as one approaches the brow.

Its impending demise has been known for many years but no provision has been made by the Transport Authority (SCC) for any additional funding to provide improvements in its design. So the replacement will simply comply with NR’s obligations and will be “like for like”, that is there will be no change to the bridge facilities.

Some improvement has been suggested, however, by retired Highways Agency Chartered Engineer, Mr Bibhas Neogi, which could provide the basis for creating pedestrian and/or cycle routes either side of the carriage-way.

He considers that this could be incorporated, as part of NR’s replacement, for some additional £300,000, with final works to be completed at a later date when additional funding can be made available. It is surely essential that SCC seriously consider his proposal.

The other one is the Farnham Road Bridge, where work is due to start in December 2018. Similarly, its foreseeable demise has been disregarded for years. SCC has agreed to fund the £4.5m which is needed to strengthen it beyond NR’s 24-ton load obligation. But again, this funding will not provide for any widening or for benefitting pedestrians or cyclists.

The bridge, with its associated junctions at Guildford Park Road and Walnut Tree Close, has shown up as a bottleneck in every modelling exercise recently carried out in attempts to improve the operation of the gyratory.

The Borough’s Corporate Plan asserts that traffic hotspots are being looked at to produce plans to alleviate congestion now and in the future. This looks like being a good candidate.

Again, Mr Neogi has suggested a way in which the carriageway could be widened without sacrificing pedestrian capacity, although a re-design of the whole area would be preferable.

It is essential that this issue should be considered with some urgency, with an opportunity to appeal for some of Mr Grayling’s Major Roads Network funding.

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