Opinion : Does Wycombe need a ring road?

There are some who think Wycombe town centre has a problem with traffic congestion.

There are others who have an intense hatred of Wycombe’s magnificent brutalist Abbey Way flyover.

Put the two together and you possibly have the foundations for the inception of a ‘Masterplan’ aimed at solving Wycombe’s traffic problems while creating an alternative route for traffic through Wycombe town centre that allows for the eventual demolition of the wonderful 1960’s flyover.

If the narrow ‘Masterplan’ streets that turn dual carriageways into single track roads (as seen in Oxford Road in High Wycombe) are so good and proving to be a roaring success then surely the ‘Masterplan’ street design concept would be rolled out throughout Buckinghamshire?

Surely Aylesbury would be an ideal candidate for the ‘Masterplan’ treatment? You would have though so wouldn’t you? However it seems not to be the case.

Did you see the news article that appeared on this site a day or so ago entitled ‘South-eastern link road for Aylesbury moves a step closer‘?

Apparently Aylesbury is not getting a ‘Masterplan’ to solve its traffic problems. Instead the County Town is being afforded a new link road which eventually may form part of an orbital route that diverts traffic around the edge of the town.

So why can’t Wycombe have an orbital route (or ring road) to divert the traffic around the edge of the town rather than wasting squillions of pounds screwing up perfectly good roads that have functioned perfectly well for years?

It’s not impossible to build an orbital route around Wycombe.

For example if the M40 junction at Loudwater was turned into a fully functional motorway junction with a new slip road so traffic could join the Northbound carriageway of the M40 at Loudwater and leave at a Loudwater exit on the Southbound carriageway that would be a great step towards removing many vehicular movements from London Road and Marlow Hill in Wycombe town centre.

Here’s a proposed route for a ‘Wycombe ring road’. At Handy Cross westbound traffic could be diverted down the the A4010, New Road and Chapel Lane rather than coming down Marlow Hill and along West Wycombe Road to clog up the town centre.

At the A40 West Wycombe Road the ring road could continue up Plomer Hill then use Littleworth Road and a widened Coates Lane to reach the A4128 Hughenden Road.

From there my proposed ring road would use Hamilton Road, A404 Marlow Hill, Totteridge Lane, Hatters Lane, London Road and the Marlow Hill to form a complete loop bringing us back to the start again.

Of course if traffic was forced to use the ring road (as proposed above) many thousands of vehicle movements could be removed from Wycombe Town centre. What’s more there would be no need for the ‘Masterplan’ and the roads in the town centre would not be ruined.

Sadly my ring road proposal does not involve the demolition of the Abbey Way flyover therefore I fear it unlikely to be given even the merest amount of consideration.

If an outer loop road (or ring road) is good enough for Aylesbury then surely it’s good enough for Wycombe too?

Conversely if the ‘Masterplan’ is so good why isn’t Aylesbury being given the same ‘Masterplan’ treatment as Wycombe?

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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