On Trains & Buses

A34/A537 improvement works on the way

Posted on November 7, 2009

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It now appears that I might have been too hopeful when I mused that traffic conditions might improve next month because anyone braving the A34 around Monk’s Heath faces almost certain disruption from next Monday week (2009-11-16). Included among these is the widening and resurfacing of Bollington Lane along with the installation of new sets of traffic lights at either end. After that, there’s the adding of an extra lane at the Monk’s Heath traffic lights so that traffic from the Alderley Edge direction are not held up by anyone seeking to turn right at what at times is a very busy junction.

The scale of these changes makes it sound that they will be ongoing for a while so you only can hope that any inconvenience is kept to a minimum. In a way, this is counterbalanced by the coming to an end of the work at the Harden roundabout on the Wilmslow side of Alderley Edge as part of the construction of its bypass. Even so, there has to be an impact of bus service timings with all of this going on and at a time when the hours of daylight are limited too. It’s just as well that Cheshire East Council has their bus tracker in place for the very buses that will be impacted by all of this. Is that why it was set up in the first place?

Update 2009-11-09: Signs are already in place telling of 11 months of work ahead and that makes sense given what’s in scope. It might be an idea to use an alternative route at busy times if that’s possible, methinks.

Update 2009-11-14: The start date is now to be two weeks later than originally planned (2009-11-30). November seems set to be more or less unsullied by any of the associated disturbance that these will cause.

Update 2009-11-15: A quick look at the Cheshire East Council website suggests that the start date is tomorrow week (2009-11-23) but we’ll have to wait and see on that. Apparently, the real reason for the length of time needed is the impact that there will be on things like phone lines and water pipes. Let’s hope that the very thing that delayed the tram workings in Edinburgh doesn’t strike here too. However, there is some good news in the form of keeping work away from peak times as much as possible and the taking down of signals only needed while work is in progress at the end of the working day.