Ware High St Traffic Survey

[Byronsnr]

March 2013 an Electronic Traffic Survey was completed in Ware High Street. Todate the results/recommendations have never been proactively published. However, 180,667 traffic measurements were recorded over a seven day period showing just how heavy traffic is in our high street, the risk to both public safety and air quality all being obvious! These concerns were highlighted to the Police Commissioner’s office, response, dismissed out of hand! Don’t you just love the way our Public Servants respond but there again, he was elected by 12.5 per cent of the electorate. So with an additional 3000 dwellings being added to Ware, expect this problem to get far worse. Well done EHC Draft District plan – no these residents as current users will not use the A10 flyer or anything else to bypass Ware!

[mb1]

I forget the exact number but our PCC got the support of far less than 12.5% of the electorate, i think the actual number was around 6.5% on a turnout of about 14%. The office is a joke and the man filling it little more than a self-publicist. No surprise he couldn't care less about traffic safety in Ware.

[Steve]

March 2013 an Electronic Traffic Survey was completed in Ware High Street.

By whom?

Todate the results/recommendations have never been proactively published.

What do you mean by "proactively published"? You seem to have access to data from the Survey. Where did this come from?

180,667 traffic measurements were recorded over a seven day period showing just how heavy traffic is in our high street

How does this show how heavy the traffic is? It's a traffic movement statistic. To define it as "heavy" you have to know what "light" is. "Heavy" is a comparative judgement. This is just a statistic.

the risk to both public safety and air quality all being obvious!

Not to me.

These concerns were highlighted to the Police Commissioner’s office

What have the police got to do with it?

So with an additional 3000 dwellings being added to Ware

You mean a potential of up to 3000 dwellings.

expect this problem to get far worse

How do you know that? Have you studied traffic flows in the town? Do you know where all the traffic is going to and coming from? Are you a specialist in the field who has access to this information?

What I'm trying to say is that this all sounds like speculative and poorly informed doom-mongering with very little basis in fact (other than the PCC's lack of any mandate)

[headbinder]

Confucius says . . . Without data, you are just another person with an opinion . . .

[Wareite1969]

Seems like a classic example of finding some statistics, interpreting in a slanted fashion and then using them to argue a completely different point.

Why would the police be interested in answering a request on someone else's traffic survey or was it undertaken by the police ? If it wasn't then you can't use their failure to answer as a slight on the mandate of the elected representative.

Why is it a danger to Public Safety when we have numerous light controlled crossing points ?

How can you use the 3,000 number (which is a maximum) to argue that numbers WILL get worse while omitting the fact of a new link road between the A10 and Widbury Hill included in the same document. This will surely carry some traffic and may take some existing traffic away ?

The arguments for and against the plan are for the other thread but I don't think this is going to enhance any kind of debate

[John_D]

................ while omitting the fact of a new link road between the A10 and Widbury Hill included in the same document. This will surely carry some traffic and may take some existing traffic away ?

Where is this piece of information to be found? I can find no mention of this in the Transport part of the EHDC Draft Plan, only mention anywhere in there of Widbury Hill pertains to cycle and pedestrian access.

[Wareite1969]

................ while omitting the fact of a new link road between the A10 and Widbury Hill included in the same document. This will surely carry some traffic and may take some existing traffic away ?

Where is this piece of information to be found? I can find no mention of this in the Transport part of the EHDC Draft Plan, only mention anywhere in there of Widbury Hill pertains to cycle and pedestrian access.

Section 9.2.7 of the Draft District Plan regarding the development Noth and East of Ware states

In order to meet the District’s long-term housing requirement, and specific local needs within the Housing Market Area, a broad location for development of between 200 and 3,000 homes is identified to the North and East of Ware. Development at a strategic scale would require new access and highways infrastructure including the provision of a link road between the A10/A1170 junction and the Widbury Hill area, along with other measures, to both mitigate traffic generation and help alleviate town centre congestion issues.

Not an easy read and I hope I haven't misunderstood

[John_D]

................ while omitting the fact of a new link road between the A10 and Widbury Hill included in the same document. This will surely carry some traffic and may take some existing traffic away ?

Where is this piece of information to be found? I can find no mention of this in the Transport part of the EHDC Draft Plan, only mention anywhere in there of Widbury Hill pertains to cycle and pedestrian access.

Section 9.2.7 of the Draft District Plan regarding the development Noth and East of Ware states

In order to meet the District’s long-term housing requirement, and specific local needs within the Housing Market Area, a broad location for development of between 200 and 3,000 homes is identified to the North and East of Ware. Development at a strategic scale would require new access and highways infrastructure including the provision of a link road between the A10/A1170 junction and the Widbury Hill area, along with other measures, to both mitigate traffic generation and help alleviate town centre congestion issues.

Not an easy read and I hope I haven't misunderstood

Well I think you have found another typo in the Draft Plan. The section it is in is about the development of the area to the North and East of Ware and the A10 is already linked there, both north and south bound to the A1170, so those comments seem to be a cut and paste carry over from an earlier plan (prior to the construction of the A10 dual carriage way extention to Puckeridge). The mention of Widbury Hill, which is diagonally on the other side of Ware, south of the town is an obvious mistake, no way could any link to the A10 to that area be possible.
(I think the typo is 'Widbury Hill' instead of 'Wadesmill Hill' which then makes sense, other than the fact that the link roads have been in existence for several years now)

[Steve]

Section 9.2.7 of the Draft District Plan regarding the development Noth and East of Ware states

In order to meet the District’s long-term housing requirement, and specific local needs within the Housing Market Area, a broad location for development of between 200 and 3,000 homes is identified to the North and East of Ware. Development at a strategic scale would require new access and highways infrastructure including the provision of a link road between the A10/A1170 junction and the Widbury Hill area, along with other measures, to both mitigate traffic generation and help alleviate town centre congestion issues.

Not an easy read and I hope I haven't misunderstood

Well I think you have found another typo in the Draft Plan. The section it is in is about the development of the area to the North and East of Ware and the A10 is already linked there, both north and south bound to the A1170, so those comments seem to be a cut and paste carry over from an earlier plan (prior to the construction of the A10 dual carriage way extention to Puckeridge). The mention of Widbury Hill, which is diagonally on the other side of Ware, south of the town is an obvious mistake, no way could any link to the A10 to that area be possible.

The Draft Plan is correct by my reading. The areas of planned development to the north and east (near Widbury Hill) would indeed benefit from a link road. This would provide alternative access to the East of Ware from the A10, rather than traffic using the High Street (A1170). Seems entirely feasible to me.

[Wareite1969]

I fear this is the wrong thread for this discussion however the route from the A10 junction with the A1170 past Wodson Park, running close to Fanhams and joining up with Widbury Hill outside Ware doesn't seem that far fetched. The decision on if that route would be ok with the local residents is a whole different matter and not for this thread.

To bring it back to the original point. This may be in the plan as a direct consequence of the survey and having identified that any major development would need to include alternatives to the existing traffic management through the High St.