Roadworks Nearly Over: How Have You Been Affected?

By Lois_Avery | Monday, August 23, 2010, 10:17

You may have noticed that Chippenham has ground to a halt lately, thanks to the roadworks springing up around town. Thankfully it's nearly come to an end, but how have you found it?

The road closure on Rowden Hill

Getting from one side of the town is bad enough when all the roads are open, but when the council decides to close one of the main routes in and out, it becomes a complete nightmare.

Rowden Hill has been shut for the best part of August, meaning that all traffic from Bath Road, via the hospital, has been diverted around the town.

And as we all know there aren't that many ways in and out - so the roads have become extremely congested.

There was a lot of concern that it would spell trouble for those getting to and from the hospital. Although the road remained open for access for those living there a shuttle bus service was laid on for others getting to and from the hospital.

One pensioner i spoke to who was trying to get to the hospital to visit her sister said she was forced to walk up and down the hill because the buses only ran once an hour, which left her hanging around.

For drivers the situation has been stressful and in some cases has added a lot of time to otherwise simple journeys.

Getting to Sainsbury's means having to travel out towards Bristol Road then back down Hungerdown Lane. Many of the cut throughs such as Sheldon Road have become a traffic nightmare with everyone desperately seeking shortcuts.

It wouldn't be so bad if this was a one off, but the same thing happened about a year ago when the road was dug up again.

How have you found the extra traffic in the town centre? Has it added time to your journey or caused any major problems?

Some people have suggested to me that this reopens a case for having an extra bypass on the eastern side of town.

What do you think about that? Would it ease congestion in Chippenham?

We all know the town is growing rapidly and businesses are expanding, bringing more people in. I personally am all for an extra road linking the London Road out towards Langley Burrell.

It's something that has been debated for decades but it would be great to see the roads develop along with the rest of the town.

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Comments

Wow Wilts Council are predicting the weather...looks ok to me today?hmmm. Roadworks were meant to finish on the 27th so lets hope this is the last of it.

By Lois_Avery at 13:14 on 30/08/10
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I drove down Rowden hill today as they have opened it for the weekend. I think it will be closed again on Tuesday so they can finish the line painting, however I'm not sure they can because they are expecting bad weather. I know this because I saw a sing that read " Rowden Hill will be closed on the 31/08/2010 due to inclement weather". I kid you not.

They obviously know more than the met office.

By mjhudston at 08:50 on 28/08/10
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It's about time they linked the A350 by Lackham round to the Pewsham bypass.
Then link it over to Monkton park, add in a railway bridge and link it onto the A350 north of the town.
That would make a proper ring road rather than the current bypass for the bypasses situation we have.
Everything going east-west has to go through the town centre and under/over the railway/river and round the crazy one way system.
At least sorting out some of the stupidities of the one way system, like reinstating the tunnels by the railway bridges that they just filled in. At least then road traffic isn't delayed so pedestrians can cross the road.

Of course Chippenham/Wiltshire council would rather spend bucket loads of money on a couple of trees for the High Street or forcing the cattle market into moving away. I don't have much hope for common sense prevailing.

By max_allan at 21:35 on 24/08/10
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