A34 - Improve this road NOW !

[andrewwoods]

No, it's so they have somewhere to park the Talivans

He added: “Laybys could be very important for the road for two reasons.
“The first being it can be used as a ‘safe haven’ for vehicles involved in an accident to be moved on to.
“Secondly it can be used for police to park up and monitor drivers along the road.
“You never see police along the A34 to monitor drivers because there is nowhere for them to safely park.

[kit]

No, it's so they have somewhere to park the Talivans

He added: “Laybys could be very important for the road for two reasons.
“The first being it can be used as a ‘safe haven’ for vehicles involved in an accident to be moved on to.
“Secondly it can be used for police to park up and monitor drivers along the road.
“You never see police along the A34 to monitor drivers because there is nowhere for them to safely park.

Thirdly they act as combined lorry park and toilet for drivers taking their mandatory breaks.

There are plenty of bridges for Talivans but they are unsurprisingly absent except at the 50mph Oxford Western bypass because there's seldom opportunity to get above 70mph. Or 56mph for most of it.

[Stevie D]

Interesting, on the A14 near Cambridge they CLOSED laybys in the interest of safety. They seemed to believe there was risk of car drivers running into the back of slow moving lorries that had pulled out of a layby.

It depends on the lay-by. If they are too small or are sited where there is poor visibility or on an uphill section where heavy vehicles will struggle to get up to speed then they can be a high risk. On the other hand, if they have good visibility and are in places where exiting traffic can accelerate quickly then they can be beneficial by providing a relatively safe place for traffic to stop.

[jedikiah]

Announced today that £18m is to be provided by the government to cover the cost of a new diamond junction on the A34 at Lodge Hill in Abingdon.

[Johnathan404]

Announced today that £18m is to be provided by the government to cover the cost of a new diamond junction on the A34 at Lodge Hill in Abingdon.

Disasterous news.

This is the most congested part of the road due to the volume of traffic travelling between Oxford and Abingdon, and a new exit for local traffic is not what it needs.

We can only hope it will be combined with a secret plan to remove long-distance traffic from the A34 north of Didcot.

[jackal]

I think there is already a half diamond at Lodge Hill, so the £18m is presumably to add south facing slips.

This is the main exit for Abingdon from the north, so adding south facers will not add to traffic on the A34 between Abingdon and Oxford. Nor is there any weaving issue (the next junction south is 2.5 miles away).

Could be a lot worse - see, e.g, the new traffic light junction on the A40.

[jedikiah]

I think this is more connected with development in the north of Abingdon and the need to access the A34 here, rather than have additional traffic go through or round the town to Marcham.

[Nicholas]

The local BBC news has reported today that the A34 is no more dangerous than other similar roads, according to a report released by a road safety group.

It revealed that the road's safety record is very good, below the average of that for the Highways England network, and on a decline when compared to the last 10 years. Likewise, incidents involving HGVs, which tend to get the most coverage, are also on a declining trend. The suggestion is that the reason why it seems worse than it is, is because so many of the crashes have been high profile.

(No online page yet to link to)

[Johnathan404]

The most important factor there is that the A34 is nationally important and operating above its design capacity, meaning any incident can easily become 'high profile'.

[DavidB]

Tonight's BBC One South edition of Inside Out at 7.30 includes a meeting between a driver who caused a fatal collision on the A34 and the victim's girlfriend. It should be available in the whole of the UK on this link in BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fs3f3

Also Anne Diamond on BBC Radio Berkshire will be discussing safety on the A34 on her show tomorrow morning. Again this link should work anywhere in the UK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04ss0xq

[jedikiah]

In addition to the above, there is a BBC South "A34 Special" at 9am on 28 Feb, to be broadcast on BBC Radios Oxford, Berkshire and Solent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04rjdb0

[Benny]

Its very difficult to have any empathy, your bit of the A34 is HQDC and mine is a pre historic S2 running through a large county town that doesn't seem to 'deserve' a bypass!!

[jedikiah]

The most important factor there is that the A34 is nationally important and operating above its design capacity, meaning any incident can easily become 'high profile'.

Only two reports of accidents in the last week I can find. One near the M40 (6 cars and a lorry, 15 injured, Bulgarian man arrested on suspicion of careless driving), and one at East Ilsley (5 cars, 3 injuries, road queued past Chieveley). A few broken down vehicles causing multi-mile tailbacks in addition.

[jackal]

In addition to the above, the BBC website has a 'What do you want to know about the A34?' feature, where you can post questions via a form:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-38910820

[Berk]

The most important factor there is that the A34 is nationally important and operating above its design capacity, meaning any incident can easily become 'high profile'.

Only two reports of accidents in the last week I can find. One near the M40 (6 cars and a lorry, 15 injured, Bulgarian man arrested on suspicion of careless driving), and one at East Ilsley (5 cars, 3 injuries, road queued past Chieveley). A few broken down vehicles causing multi-mile tailbacks in addition.

It's the hill that needs fixing - NOW.

[Big L]

The most important factor there is that the A34 is nationally important and operating above its design capacity, meaning any incident can easily become 'high profile'.

Only two reports of accidents in the last week I can find. One near the M40 (6 cars and a lorry, 15 injured, Bulgarian man arrested on suspicion of careless driving), and one at East Ilsley (5 cars, 3 injuries, road queued past Chieveley). A few broken down vehicles causing multi-mile tailbacks in addition.

It's the hill that needs fixing - NOW.

Just needs a huge bulldozer then, shift the hill out of the way.

[mikehindsonevans]

Only two reports of accidents in the last week I can find. One near the M40 (6 cars and a lorry, 15 injured, Bulgarian man arrested on suspicion of careless driving), and one at East Ilsley (5 cars, 3 injuries, road queued past Chieveley). A few broken down vehicles causing multi-mile tailbacks in addition.

It's the hill that needs fixing - NOW.

Just needs a huge bulldozer then, shift the hill out of the way.

Certainly the hill up to the Ridgeway (north of East Ilsley) would be a good start. Last year, a (Polish) lorry driver employed by an Andover trucking firm wiped out a family - shortly after he had signed an undertaking not to use his mobile/iPod whilst driving. The in-cab video of the approach and impact (showing the view from internal and external cameras - including his surprised expression when he looked up too late) made national TV a few weeks back.

The northbound A34 running up to the Ridgeway from the junction at the bottom has had a "nothing big in the right-hand lane" restriction for some years.

How far above capacity does a strategic road need to be, before TPTB start to think about an expansion?? Discuss.

Mike

[jedikiah]

Another crash at East Ilsley this morning - more of a minor one involving two cars. Blocked the road northbound with congestion as far as Newbury before it was cleared according to the newspaper report. Would have happened during or slightly before the 'A34 Special' radio programme.

[Berk]

It's the hill that needs fixing - NOW.

Just needs a huge bulldozer then, shift the hill out of the way.

Certainly the hill up to the Ridgeway (north of East Ilsley) would be a good start. Last year, a (Polish) lorry driver employed by an Andover trucking firm wiped out a family - shortly after he had signed an undertaking not to use his mobile/iPod whilst driving. The in-cab video of the approach and impact (showing the view from internal and external cameras - including his surprised expression when he looked up too late) made national TV a few weeks back.

The northbound A34 running up to the Ridgeway from the junction at the bottom has had a "nothing big in the right-hand lane" restriction for some years.

How far above capacity does a strategic road need to be, before TPTB start to think about an expansion?? Discuss.

Mike

Quite. I really don't understand why drivers feel so scared on this stretch, because I too have been there, and been shocked and alarmed when traffic comes to a grinding stop for no apparent reason (maybe a minor shunt, or something).

I maintain it was this that precipitated, or made worse last year's accident. Even if the primary cause was driver negligence, or inattention, you wouldn't expect traffic to come to a complete stop on an otherwise open road.

[jackal]

How far above capacity does a strategic road need to be, before TPTB start to think about an expansion??

Well, the government is in a sense committed to widening the A34 (even though it hasn't announced it in those terms), as it is committed to building the Oxford-Cambridge expressway, and all options for that road assume A34 widening north of the M4 to the point at which the new expressway diverges. The problem is that this is only anticipated to be open in 2031...