Traffic queues in Calcot "halved"
Busy junction at Langley Hill is to undergo £450,000 improvements next week
SIGNIFICANT changes to a busy junction in Calcot will halve current traffic queue lengths, according to West Berkshire Council.
The Langley Hill junction of the A4 is the project will cost around £450,000 and will be carried out in several phases to keep disruption to a minimum.
The improvements will be carried out during the school summer holidays to start on Monday, July 25, and are expected to take around 14 weeks.
A new, staggered pedestrian crossing will be installed by Calcot Junior and Infant Schools, in Curtis Road, to replace the existing one which crosses the full width of the road at once.
As only one carriageway will be stopped at a time it is hoped the change will reduce waiting times for drivers and improve safety for pedestrians.
A new traffic lane will then be constructed to enable two lanes of traffic to turn right out of Langley Hill heading west, and the A4 will be widened immediately west of the junction to allow the extension of the merging lane for traffic coming from the east along the A4.
The left turn lane for traffic travelling west on the A4 and turning into Langley Hill will also be extended by modifying the road markings.
Lane closures required to carry out these improvements will take place during off-peak hours.
Also as part of the project, a large section of Langley Hill will be resurfaced.
Most of the resurfacing will be carried out between 7pm and midnight to reduce disruption.
Essential maintenance and upgrades will also be carried out on the traffic lights at the junction.
The changes were identified as one of the most cost effective ways of improving the flow of traffic in this area, and are the result of council's Kennet and Thames Vision that sets out the long-term plans for the area.
Modelling used by the council to compare the existing and proposed designs indicate that the changes could reduce average queue lengths on Langley Hill by up to fifty percent given the current traffic levels.
Queues in both directions on the A4 should also be reduced as a result of the changes to the signal timings.
West Berkshire Council's executive member for transport, David Betts (Con, Purley) said: “Our study indicates that these changes will be a big improvement, reducing waiting times and improving the flow of traffic around this busy junction.
“Combining essential maintenance work such as the resurfacing and replacement of traffic lights with making improvements to traffic flow in this way really helps to reduce disruption and makes financial sense too.”
