Opinion : Have you visited the new ‘Suffield Hill’ road in High Wycombe yet?
After four years of construction work the final stretch of the alternative ‘Masterplan’ route through Wycombe town centre has finally opened.
Indeed you may have seen the article that appeared in the news section of this site a few days ago headlined ‘Final section of High Wycombe’s alternative ‘Masterplan’ route opens‘.
Finally High Wycombe is fully ‘Masterplanned’. So now the ‘Masterplan’ is complete do you think the £9.2m project was money well spent?
In my opinion the project was unnecessary, a total waste of money and what’s more the silly narrow roads are actually preventing our town from flourishing and hampering business as people avoid the roads and the businesses along them due to the poor road layout.
Who on earth though of the daft ‘Masterplan’ idea in the first place? If my memory serves me correctly the whole scheme was borne out of someone’s dislike for the magnificent Abbey Way flyover. In order to ‘be rid’ of the wonderful flyover that serves our town so well a plan was devised to create an ‘alternative route’. Well look what we have got….
A few days ago my good self visited the newly created ‘Suffield Hill’ which is a stretch of newly created road that was the last part of the ‘Masterplan’ to be constructed.
Immediately upon arrival it was noticeable how few cars were using the road. The lower part of Desborough Road used to be busy but look at the picture (below) and tell me how many cars you can see using the road.
There isn’t a single vehicle there! Why? Because anyone with any sense avoids these hideous ‘Masterplan’ roads!
My good self took a few seconds to inspect the newly created junction with Desborough Road and Suffield Hill.
The picture (above) is taken looking up Desborough Road with the entrance of the multi-storey car park to my rear. As you can see, it’s a no-right turn coming from the multi-storey car park going up Desborough Road.
A high kerb defines the central reservation that prevents vehicles from going straight on as can be seen in the picture below which was taken looking in the opposite direction to the previous picture.
My good self waited and watched as a car came from the direction of the car park, turned left up Suffield Hill, then it stopped and cut across the dropped kerb of the pedestrian refuge (shown in the picture below) a few feet further up Suffield Hill before coming back down in the direction of Desborough Road!
There may be a large, high, kerb directly opposite the T-junction, however enterprising drivers are cutting across the dropped kerb area a few feet away where the pedestrians cross! Wow! What a stupid and dangerous road layout!
A few moments later another car came from the car park but this time the driver went half way up Suffield Hill, past the high kerbed central reservation, before doing a 3-point turn and coming back down the hill to go up Desborough Road.
Me thinks the Desborough Road / Suffield Hill junction could soon become one of the most talked about (for all the wrong reasons) in Wycombe.
So was the ‘Masterplan’ worth the wait and all the money spent on it?
What do you think?
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