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Warning issued on major A34 delays

7:00am Sunday 14th January 2007

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MOTORISTS in Oxfordshire face long delays when the A34 is cut to one lane each way tomorrow.

A 40mph speed limit will also be imposed between the West Ilsley junction and the A417 overbridge, near Didcot, to allow a £3m resurfacing scheme to be carried out.

The work is scheduled to finish by mid-March, but senior engineers have warned it could overrun if bad weather strikes.

The Highways Agency warned motorists to expect major delays.

The contraflow system comes into effect on Monday and northbound slip roads at the West Ilsley and Chilton interchanges will be closed when traffic is in contraflow on the southbound carriageway.

Signed diversion routes will be in place.

The man in charge of the project, Peter Scott, said teams would work round the clock, but the carriageway needed to be totally rebuilt.

"The last work was carried out five or six years ago, but it has started to fail. This time we have said 'enough is enough'. It has reached the end of its shelf life after 32 years."

Mr Scott said the new surface would provide a smoother ride for the 69,000 vehicles that use that stretch of the A34 every day. It would also mean fewer roadworks during the next few years.

Chilton resident Mark Vickers said it would add to the pressure on the village roads between Didcot and the A34 via West Hagbourne - "It will be chaos for a few months."


Your Say YourWitney Gazette

Jill Kirkwood, says...
9:01pm Thu 18 Jan 07

I am absolutely frustrated at the delays I am experiencing as a result of the work being carried out on the A34. I travel from Abingdon to Newbury every day to work and it is taking me almost 2 hours for both the journey there and back. There is such a lack of foresight and consideration when works like these are being carried out. First of all, the A34 should be a 3 lane motorway due to the amount of drivers who have to use this route. I believe that this work should have been carried out first, before deciding to make everyone's lives totally unbearable by carrying out the current work. If this has been done, the traffic could then have been forced into 2 lanes instead of 1. The A34 can be a nightmare at the best of times and it seems to me that the Highways Agency or whatever they are called do not give a **** about ordinary people who have no choice but to go to work. I am actually looking for another job as I cannot bear the thought of having to go through this twice a day until at least the end of March. Even after 3 days my health is suffering. I note on the website that "work will be carried out 24 hours a day 7 days a week" yet i have not seen 1 person doing any work at all - what is the explanation for this? I know I have no influence as one individual person but I would urge you to take into account my comments which I am sure represent all the drivers I see on the road every morning. Where are the workers? Why is no work being done? I couldn't give a **** if they have to work in high winds and rain as personally I would rather do that work myself than experience the frustration of being stuck in a seemingly never-ending traffic jam for 4 hours every day. THIS WORK MUST BE SPEEDED UP.

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