In September, October and November 2012 we had a tough time with traffic and delays in Horndean while SGN replaced the gas pipes under the road. These have been covered on this blog twice, but the key issues were the unnecessarily long time they took with only one work area being progressed at a time of the 4 that were closed off, and minimal weekend work which only commenced after pressure from us.
We were assured by Hampshire County Council that the future roadworks would be planned in better. There would be advance notification. We would know how long they would take. Good. None of us likes roadworks, but if they are well-managed, being worked on efficiently, and minimal impact to road users then we are very tolerant to this.
Last week saw another period of roadworks in Horndean, albeit fortunately shorter, but we received no advance warning, were not told how long they would take, and again they were 4 way alternate traffic lights. As a minimum, make Blendworth lane a left turn only road during these works so that the lights are 3 way. Where possible lay road plates over the weekend so that they can be ‘opened up’ when they are not worked on. Finally, the road was reinstated on Saturday morning, and it took until Sunday to remove the lights. On Saturday, the queueing traffic from the centre of Horndean ran back to the A3M Junction 1 off slip. This simply is not acceptable.
We will have more roadworks as the Gales site requires BT, Sewer, Storm, Power, Gas, Cable TV and then a substantial overhaul of the road. I think we can accept that if they are planned in efficiently, well-managed and we know the duration. this message has gone very clearly to HCC and I hope future works are less disruptive.
