Wharton Road setback

Residents have asked why work on the hump at the end of Wharton Road is not yet completed.

The specialist contractor hired by the City Council’s Highways Department has pulled out at the last minute, so Highways is trying hard to find another company to take on the job. The remaining work is to apply a resin imprint on top, and a pre-requisite for this to work properly is two days of dry weather. It’s hoped that the work may be finished this side of Christmas, but factors affecting this include the scarcity of specialist contractors, their current workload and weather conditions.

The City Council’s highways officer has been out to the site and confirms it is safe. He is keeping councillors updated with progress.

Disappointing news on 20 MPH roundels

20MPH roundel

Some disappointing news from the County Council for those of us who have been trying to introduce 20 MPH roundels on residential roads. The latest advice is as follows:

In general we only use enhanced signing, such as the 20mph road markings, to highlight areas with particular issues. Typically these would be where there was a bad accident record, high pedestrian movements or other significant hazards other than a simple non compliance with the speed limit, which would be a matter for the police to enforce. Consequently we have to be careful not to make these markings too commonplace otherwise they simply become part of the everyday street-scene, loose their impact and cease to be effective.

In early 2013 we received a number of requests for 20mph markings at various locations around the City. Before taking a decision on any widespread implementation we felt it necessary to trial the markings at two locations. Wharton Road we selected as one of these since we had received concerns about “rat running” and its close proximity to the two nearby primary schools. The result of the trial was that the 20mph markings had a very marginal effect on speeds at both locations. Consequently, as these do not seem particularly cost effective, we do not propose to provide any more at present.

Even though these roundels cost only around £75 to put in, and money can be identified for this, their introduction is blocked by the County Council, and we share residents’ frustration. We are continuing to fight for this policy to be reviewed at County Hall.

Carriageway Resurfacing works at Osler Road

osleer

A letter was sent out to Osler Road residents yesterday informing them about up and coming roadworks.

Oxford City Council is to carry out works to reconstruct / resurface the carriageway in Osler Road. This work is to commence on 2nd June 2014 and is expected to take 3 weeks.

The work to be done is to plane off the existing carriageway surface and relay a new macadam surface the full width of the carriageway.

As the work involves all of the carriageway, alternative arrangements must be made for parking of cars.  Large and heavy equipment will be in use, and it will not be possible for half of the road to be worked on while cars remain parked on the other side. When work is completed all parking restrictions will reinstated in accordance with the Traffic Order.

A Road Closure has been arranged in order to facilitate the works and to ensure the safety of road workers . This will naturally cause difficulty in access to premises although the footways will be fully accessible throughout the work. If residents have special requirements, they should make themselves known to the foreman of the works. If the work is completed earlier than the 3 week period then the road will be fully re-opened.

If you have any comments on the proposals, require further information, or know of any cars which may not get moved in time please contact David Tidball at the City Council or contact Engineering  Services on 0800 227676.

Your councillors are inundated with comments from local residents worried about temporary parking. If you would like copies of the plans please let us know, we are asking the City Council who has received consultation letters and who has not.

 

Our current information is that

“The parking will be displaced from the London road to the JR but the parking restriction will be lifted for Osler road until the resurfacing works are completed therefore residents will be able to park at the top end layby. After 1 week we should have the base coarse layers down which will mean the residents will be able to gain access to their properties for off road parking in the evenings .

Once the section from London rd. to the JR is completed we will open this section of road up.”