Work to design a new junction to improve a dangerous crash site in Wokingham with notoriously bad visibility is well underway.
Three councillors from Finchampstead Parish Council met highways technicians from Wokingham Borough on Wednesday, July 9, to discuss designs for the new junction at the former location of Finchampstead’s war memorial.
The Parish Council is offering to pay the borough to install the new junction, but Wokingham officers have admitted that, were it not for their money, it would take 10 years for the Borough to get around to improving it, in fact it might take 40-50 years.
Beyond the fact that the junction is not currently high on Wokingham’s priority list, the Borough is not prepared to take on financial risk associated with the work and the parish council wants to limit its own risk.
David Cornish said: “We’re impressed with the work that they’ve done.
“The results of the analysis were surprising. The officers admitted that the traffic coming up from The Village and swinging towards The Ridges is much higher than the officers thought it would be.
“It was a very good session – there were two officers who were very helpful.”
In order to improve safety, councillors and officers want to improve the visibility to at least 55 metres. Currently the visibility for vehicles approaching from Jubilee Road is almost zero.
Two options were discussed: a mini roundabout which would only give 28m visibility or a T-junction which would give 60 metres of visibility.
David Cornish said: “It was very factual. The working assumption is that it would be very very difficult to build a roundabout but we did ask them to look at that and they modelled it in extraordinary detail.
“They have done a very detailed job. But the view is that putting in a roundabout is no good. You’d have to put in street lighting which would cost a fortune.
“The working theory is that replacing the triangular junction with a T-junction would be safest.”
The introduction of a T-junction would require the complete removal of the triangular island where the memorial cross once stood. There could be further implications for the diversion of utilities like sewers, and it is believed that there is an electricity cable underground.
But the biggest sticking point is who covers the risk for the project.
He said: “We want to work in partnership with Wokingham Borough Council. The parish council could cover the obvious risk of a slight increase in price, but small parish councils can’t sign a blank cheque.”
