Another trip hazard. This time it’s in Osler Road
Kerb damage to Osler Road opposite Cafe Noir
The City Council will soon be out to repair this section of kerb which is continually damaged by buses and heavy vehicles.
There will be a site visit later this week to see what more can be done to minimise the frequency of repair visits.
Trip hazard for Headington pedestrians
Good news! County Highways confirm that this trip hazard outside the Shell Garage in London Road will be repaired as soon as possible …. but will be assigned lower priority than ‘Olympic Torch’ routes!
Altaf, Ruth and David are still fighting for improvements to Franklin Road
David and I have been pestering for repairs and improvements to Franklin Road. The road itself looks dreadful, and residents quite reasonably feel that the County Council should be doing something about it. Franklin Road and New High Street are both in dire need of resurfacing but never quite rise to the top of the council’s priority list.
I thought I would share with you the latest information we have on the likelihood of repairs to Franklin Road as it gives an insight into the way in which priorities are calculated.
The bids made to Oxfordshire County Council for the overlay of concrete section was assessed as Priority 3 while the macadam road for plane and resurface was given priority 2. There is also a bid for footway overlay at priority 3.
The priorities are established against the priorities in the table below
j Urgent work required to carry out structural repairs to eliminate an existing hazard. k Medium priority structural repairs to prevent the occurrence of hazards l Lower priority schemes to protect the structure from deterioration Oxfordshire County Council carry out an objective assessment using the HAMP system and the footway has scored 314 points. This ranks it 63rd in the footway schemes throughout the City. Currently the budgets run to less than 10 schemes a year. The carriageway proposals do not have a current rating, they may have had in the past but ratings are removed from the list when they have become outdated.
The number of outstanding repairs to roads and pavements is becoming a huge issue for Headington as our ward bears such a heavy volume of traffic.
David and I will keep fighting on your behalf, and Altaf is giving us as much help as he can as our county councillor. I’m afraid it will be a lengthy battle. The good news is that the road is deemed to be safe, however unsightly it looks.
Just to let you all know that David and I have requested that the pothole in St Andrew’s Road is repaired urgently.
There appears to have been a lot of damage to road surfaces following the prolonged period of rain, and the state of the main London Road is quite poor in places, please let your councillors know of any more pothole blackspots!
Temporary Road Traffic Order – S14 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
Temporary Road Closure at St Andrew’s Road, Headington, Oxford
A request has been received from Oxford City Council for a temporary road closure to apply to the above road whilst urgent Carriageway repairs are carried out. A Temporary Road Closure Notice has been made to implement the closure, and will operate from Tuesday 27th March 2012. The estimated duration of the works is 1 day. Access will be maintained for emergency service vehicles and for residents within the closure area, subject to the progress of the works.
We are being asked lots of questions about what the LSTF is. There is more guidance on the County Council website, but here is a brief summary.
The £5m bid for the project entitled Supporting Employment Growth and Accessing Higher Education and Healthcare in Oxford was successful. The majority of this funding is revenue but supported by £2.8million of capital from the County Council and Developer contributions. The funding covers the period from now until the end of 2014/15. The principal objective is to deliver better access to employment and health facilities in the Headington area through development of Park & Ride, and focuses on the expansion of Thornhill Park & Ride (to around 1,400 spaces) which has planning permission. This extension will be complemented by:
* innovative new bus services (using low carbon vehicles) linking P&R (including Water Eaton as well as Thornhill) to the hospitals, Brookes and Oxford University Headington campuses including Bus Stop upgrades to Premium Route standard;
* new bus priority along the London Road, to complete this project;
* measures to encourage walking and cycling for trips to local destinations from Thornhill (including a proposed cycle hub / hire scheme);
* a comprehensive ‘Travel Choices’ project including working with key employers.
The construction of the Thornhill extension was initially scheduled for June 2012 with completion by February 2013 – but timing was dependent on negotiations with landowner (Shotover) impacting on environmental works. Selective charging of long stay users (principally London bound) of the site was proposed from April 2012 and would need to take into account the need to encourage hospital use and to cater for shift patterns.
Outline design is starting on the London Road bus lane which will look at options for extending bus priority on this corridor in both directions. This may offer opportunities to improve the efficiency of operation of Headington Roundabout by reducing queues tailing back to it. Public consultation on options is initially programmed for Spring 2012 with construction in May 2013, although there may be opportunities to bring this forward.
The other elements in the programme are currently at the scoping or preliminary stage: bus stop upgrades, new bus services on the completion of the scheme, and cycle and pedestrian measures. The travel choices project has started with travel surveys in early 2012 followed by personalised and workplace travel planning activities in early 2013.
Those yellow lines are coming out today!
After great teamwork by residents and Ruth, and lots of press coverage (see earlier blogs), the County Council has issued an apology and are removing the double yellow lines form around the entry treatments in Latimer Road, Stapleton Road and Bickerton Road today.
The Oxford Mail reports that the OCC spokesman said: “We would also like to say sorry for causing this confusion and can only reiterate that the initial work was carried out with the best of intentions”
Residents in the area report that the lines are already being removed
A request has been received for a temporary road closure to apply to the full length of Gipsy Lane whilst essential Carriageway Resurfacing works are carried out.
A Temporary Road Closure Notice is being made to implement the closure, and will operate from Saturday 10th March 2012. The estimated duration of the works is 2 days.
Access will be maintained for emergency service vehicles and for businesses and residents within the closure area, subject to the progress of the works.
We’ve had several reports that the gullies in Latimer Road are blocked. All but three have now been cleared, unfortunately those three could not be accessed because of obstruction by parked cars
