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Letter: Planned Diversions for Bridge Replacement Could Cause Gridlock
Published on: 23 Feb, 2018
Updated on: 23 Feb, 2018
From Bibhas Neogi
At the public display at Shalford Village Hall on Tuesday [February 20, 2018] I had a view of the proposed diversion for works on the B3000 New Pond Road Bridge which is planned to be closed for replacement by Network Rail starting on April 23 until mid-July. The diversion will be three-month long diversion via Godalming, Milford and the A3, in all about six miles for thousands of motorists.
Such a long diversion lasting for three months will cause delays and cost motorists money for extra fuel for which there is no compensation. Rat-running through Farncombe roads could cause gridlock in the whole area as most roads have commuter parking that makes passing of two cars a problem already, sometimes.
Could Surrey County Council have insisted on Network Rail to install a temporary bridge alongside or over the top for the duration of the works after the demolition is out of the way? Yes, it would have cost Network Rail money but they have now become developers of their sites and raking in millions – Guildford Station re-development by Solum as their partner is one example out of many around the country.
Retaining the brick arch and building a concrete arch over it would have been much easier and cost of demolition, disruption to train services and replacement bus service etc, could have been avoided. The bridge is weak but it could be repaired and left to carry its own weight while the new bridge takes the traffic loading but structurally separated from it. So a 170-year-old heritage could have been saved.
See also: Letter – There Are Better Options For New Pond Road Bridge
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Bibhas Neogi
March 27, 2018 at 11:01 am
There had not been any comments on this posting but no doubt planned diversions would cause long delays.
Last Wednesday there was some roadworks near Peasmarsh roundabout where a lane was closed on the A3100 towards Guildford. This caused a 20 minute delay. I just wondered what such an unplanned or an urgent closure would do to the traffic when the B3000 is closed and traffic diverted via Godalming and Milford during Network Rail work.
Even on a normal day, traffic around Flambard Way and signals near Waitrose/Sainsbury junction is pretty heavy and when the diverted traffic joins this, it could easily cause very long queues and possibly the area could get gridlocked.
Motorists would try to cut through Farncombe to avoid long diversions and would equally cause traffic jams during peak periods. However, Surrey County Council could make some temporary or even permanent one-way roads to reduce the problem. For example, Kings Road could be one-way in from the A3100 while Hare Lane could be one-way out on to the A3100 and no left turn into Fern Road from it. Just some suggestions that would, I believe, make matters a bit less problematic.