New crossing will end traffic misery (From The Oxford Times)

It will be interesting to see what the opposition will be to this road scheme.
Crawley deserves to have something done about their traffic problem, I only hope it doesn't take as long as the Cogges Link Road idea.

I thought that this road is a public highway, and as such all non restricted classes of vehicles were allowed to use it. What next, Kingston Rd residents up in arms at their road being used as a rat run to avoid a mile long detour in traffic along the Woodstock or Banbury Roads, or Woodstock Road residents angry at their road being used as a rat run by drivers that no longer use Kingston road. Either it is a road or it isn't. If these Crawley lot want the road for their personal use only, stump up the £millions involved and buy the village, a bit like that nice Mr Bond did with Glympton, although even then we were still able to drive through there.

LORD PETE MCVAY. OX2 6EG wrote:
I thought that this road is a public highway, and as such all non restricted classes of vehicles were allowed to use it. What next, Kingston Rd residents up in arms at their road being used as a rat run to avoid a mile long detour in traffic along the Woodstock or Banbury Roads, or Woodstock Road residents angry at their road being used as a rat run by drivers that no longer use Kingston road. Either it is a road or it isn't. If these Crawley lot want the road for their personal use only, stump up the £millions involved and buy the village, a bit like that nice Mr Bond did with Glympton, although even then we were still able to drive through there.

There happens to bit rather a difference in Kingston Road / Woodstock Road to a single track road that runs through Crawley !.

There is a weight limit on this route, not because the villagers dislike lorries but because the roads are not up to it. Goodness only knows how the ancient bridge takes the strain.

Phian wrote:
There is a weight limit on this route, not because the villagers dislike lorries but because the roads are not up to it. Goodness only knows how the ancient bridge takes the strain.

The weight limit concerns the roads to Witney (past New Mill), Priesthill and the one past Bretch Hill farm upto the Bird in Hand; That artic in the photo is towing a scrap metal trailer (for crushed/baled cars) so would be going to Smiths' scrapyard. Perfectly legal even if there's a weight limit. I have to drive my tipper lorry (though not as big as the Read artic) occasionally down said road to access sites such as Mr Greatbatches' yard near the old airfield (the positioning of his yard gates mean getting into them is easier and safer this way).

Thanks Big Issue for clarifying that.
I have friends who live in Crawley and can understand their concern.

Forgot to add we use that road when delivering to Old Minster Lovell too because we can't turn around down there..

Was the West End Link Road not planned many years ago to run off the end of Hailey Road through to the Burford Road? Now that would relieve Bridge Street and Crawley.

K. Darke wrote:
Was the West End Link Road not planned many years ago to run off the end of Hailey Road through to the Burford Road? Now that would relieve Bridge Street and Crawley.

I think so, just like Woodstock had a bypass drawn up and I think Burford did but those who objected to the traffic then objected to the fact there'd be no passing trade. Not forgetting we're still having to listen to NIMBYS whining about the Cogges Link..

When Big Issue dismisses opponents of the Cogges Link Road as "NIMBYS", he'd better try to explain why many intelligent Witney people who live a long way from the route oppose it. Could it be that they have analysed the claims and counter-claims rather more carefully than he has, and that they have concluded that's it's an expensive non-solution that merely transfers congestion from Bridge Street to Station Lane while at the same time causing serious environmental damage?

Lets not forget one of the biggest campaigners against the link road also helped cause the problem by selling land that is now Madley Park. What good is the 4 way junction idea when it'd send traffic to Ducklington and block up the roundabout? Everytime a bypass is planned someone pops up and whinges; I bet a few moaned when the Witney bypass was built but who'd go back to the old route now?

The traffic issues in Crawley are diabolical. The West End relief road was demanded years ago by specialist Town and Country consultants engaged by WODC and OCC. It was made clear then that no further development should take place without completion of the vital link road. However, that recommendation was disregarded by the non specialist parties sitting as Councillors. Since then the pace of change in and around Witney has been incessant. In many ways it is difficult not to rejoice in the burgeoning success of Witney - after all we now enjoy the increased shopping, entertainment, eating and drinking opportunities that development has bought. However, the total lack of joined up thinking regarding infrastructure development to support the increasing population is frankly laughable. It is not Crawley alone that suffers. The villages of Hailey, Delly End, Poffley End, Ramsden and Old Minster all suffer, to a lesser or greater degree, as 'Rat Runs' for traffic trying to avoid the congested centre of Witney, West End and Bridge Street (the latter designated Red with regard to an EU directive regarding poor air quality). Because of the lack of joined up thinking at the planning stages businesses and residents suffer an unacceptable and unnecessary impact on their lives. The grid lock around West End and Bridge St is all too evident every morning - this is with the effect of Crawley and the other villages being used as Rat Runs and the former as the accepted Nort and East Witney ByPass. Crawley sits at a confluence of unclassified roads which are in all directions reduced to single track width. Collisions between vehicles within Crawley are frequent and those between large vehicles cause the virtual closure of the de facto bypass. It is then when the impact in other areas is truly felt and road users are inconvenienced - to say nothing of when the road is closed due to flooding, near ecological disasters with fuel oil tankers nearly tipping into the brook or accidents on Crawley Bridge when the lights fail! It is time for some clear thinking. It is not sufficient to say there is no funding or that a development is sustainable. Several offers have been made for conjoint funding for the relief rd project as mandated in earlier studies and the Cllr has to be living in cloud cuckoo land to suggest that a project is sustainable when no consideration has been given to the further impact of development without proper and wider infrastructure improvement studies - aside from the new A40/Downs Rd junction - where is all that northbound traffic headed. The issues in Crawley are not limited to that one site but felt particularly sharply because of the nature of the roads. Lets give everyone a break and complete the bypassing of Witney in all directions, those that have business in Witney should be able to travel unfettered into the centre of the town and those that merely wish to transit past the town on their way to other parts of the county and country should be free to do so without lengthy diversions or sitting in interminable traffic jams. Neither should residents and businesses be forced to continue to suffer the effects of poor air quality, reduced safety and damage caused by lack of critical thinking. Its time for our Councillors and planners to get their collective fingers out and wake up to a problem that is not going away.