Jemima Milton has suggested recently in the local paper that the Swindon to Marlborough Road A346 be made into a dual carriageway to stop accidents.
Is this the right solution? The road would still become one lane at Marlborough and would destroy a lot of very scenic land (belonging to local farmers) through Chiseldon and the Ogbournes.
Why not just reduce the speed limit to reduce accidents?
The Ermine Street Road from Swindon towards Newbury has a 50 mph limit in parts of Berkshire. There are occasional fatal accidents but crashes happen on other roads too.
Is Mrs Milton right or do we just need to lower the speed limit by 10 mph?

By kaylacey at 00:07 on 17/07/11

Re-post

Kay, the idea of a dual carriageway (and a Marlborough by-pass) comes up every few years, generates more heat than light, then fades away when people realise there is no funding available. Is anything different this time?

If you do want to make a comparison, I'd suggest it's important to get the context correct. The part of the A346 that has the most accidents is the section with the dips, north of Ogbourne St.George (60 mph limit ) and the S-bends between Ogbourne St.George and Ogbourne St.Andrew (50 mph limit). You're comparison is slightly flawed because the Ermine Street road is much straighter and flatter than that part of the A346.

Besides, "destroy" is an emotive word, no land is being destroyed, "major change of use" would be less emotive and more accurate.:-)

By The Sanctuary at 19:24 on 24/07/11
Report
Sanctuary, I think that my comparison with Ermine Street, is sound; there are numerous blind dips and curves on Ermine Street and a woman was killed at Baydon by another car driver earlier this year. Ermine Street is much longer than the Chiseldon to Marlborough Road and is certainly not "straight". It can be a very difficult road, especially at night.
I think that taking agricultural land to widen roads is indeed to detroy the countryside, CPRE would probably agree. Council officers, planners and councillors often hide such ruination of the countryside behind "changes of use".
Furthermore, a dual carriageway could not pass through Ogbourne-St.Andrew without the demolition of property. The dual carriageway sections would be limited and would have filter into single lanes at several points.
The only sensible solution is a speed retriction.

By kaylacey at 00:28 on 30/07/11
Report
Are you sure you mean Baydon? That already has a 30mph limit.

What exactly are the speed limits you are proposing, and how would you enforce them?

By The Sanctuary at 10:54 on 31/07/11
Report
Only a small section through the "congested" part of Baydon village has a 30 mph speed limit.

By kaylacey at 13:03 on 01/08/11
Report