Opinion : Does Wycombe need the traffic ‘Masterplan’?

It was very disheartening to read the article that appeared on the news section of this site last week entitled ‘work to start on second phase of High Wycombe traffic Masterplan on Mon 19th Sep 2016‘.

Regular readers will know of my dislike for the new plans to divert traffic away from the town centre with the ultimate aim of closing the magnificent Abbey Way flyover.

Just look at the mess that has been created since the first phase was completed on the A40 in Oxford Road and West Wycombe Road from the junction of Bellfield Road to the crossroads with Desborough Avenue/The Pastures.

What was once a dual carriage has been reduced to a single track road with a roundabout created at a new junction with Westbourne Street. Sadly there are no road markings at the Westbourne Street link road roundabout leading to vehicles overshooting what would be a safe place to stop with resulting ‘near misses’ taking place.

The roundabout is also too large and made of cobbled stones thus forcing vehicles to ‘swerve’ round in a most ridiculous fashion or risk running over the cobbles of the roundabout.

Pedestrians just seem to wander across the road at will making it a very dangerous road to drive indeed. Since the two carriageways leaving town were reduced to one any vehicles leaving Wycombe and wanting to turn up The Pastures find themselves caught up in the left hand lane and unable to progress leading to even bigger traffic jams.

The last thing Wycombe needs is more roads like the new layout on the A40. Sadly it looks like the powers that be are now going to ruin Desborough Road too with more of the same. Oh dear.

As far as my good self can see all this is happening because someone has a dislike for the Abbey Way flyover and the great and good want rid of it.

But why bother making new roads? Traffic from Abbey Way could simply go up Suffield Road and turn right at the end into Desborough Avenue then join the A40 at the traffic light controlled junction at the bottom of The Pastures.

Of course the aforementioned route would only need one roundabout creating at the junction of Suffield Road and Desborough Avenue, I fear this option would be too cheap especially when the overflowing riches of the Council Tax receipts can be raided.

Are these new road layouts begin done to benefit the people of the town or to keep those employed in the road design department of the powers that be in jobs?

I fear that as soon as the ‘Masterplan’ is finally completed we will be left with a town that is a no-go area for motorists leading to the collapse of the local economy, of course this would be an advantage for nearby towns like Aylesbury who would not be hampered with ridiculous road layouts.

From what yours truly can see the Masterplan may turn out to be the biggest waste of money to happen in Wycombe for years. Will there be any benefit to anyone other than those who worked on creating it?

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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