Solution to Thatcham level crossing woes?

But he needs your help.
Steve Ardagh-Walter, who has lived in the town for more than 20 years and who works in the IT industry, said that if the demand was there and funding was available, he wanted to devise a driver information system that would alert motorists, though a website (PC, tablet or mobile), Twitter, smartphone application or a short message service (SMS) when the gates were due to close.
This way motorists could plan their journeys to miss the queues, said Mr Ardagh-Walter.
“Like many people in Thatcham, I have experienced the ‘joys’ of the level crossing. There’s lots of frustration.”
The system would work by using data feeds from Network Rail and a video camera to give the exact closing times of the gates. By combining these information sources, an accurate prediction of future closing times could be built up, including those from delayed trains and freight trains, which are not accessible from passenger timetables, said Mr Ardagh-Walter.
However, to make sure that the service would be used by motorists, and to discover what features they would like to see, Mr Ardagh-Walter wants as many people as possible to log onto the website (right) and take part in a survey about how people are affected by the level crossing, how they use it and whether or not like they would an information service.
He said: “I have asked West Berkshire Council for some funding, which they are considering.”
Describing his system as a short-term fix, he said that he still believed the long-term solution would be a bridge.
He said: “As a resident, I would prefer a bridge. But we have to keep expectations realistic.”
The level crossing has been a notorious congestion hotspot in Thatcham over many years, as people use it to avoid traffic in the centre of Newbury when travelling from Thatcham to Basingstoke.
In the space of about a week, some 150 people have already taken part in the survey.
To take part visit