West Berkshire rush hour faster than the average

Area's statistics not a true representation says councillor

CAREWORN Newbury motorists may raise a quizzical eyebrow at figures released this week that show the average speed during rush hour along the district’s A roads is just over 28mph.

The relatively brisk speed, measured in June, is significantly higher than England as a whole, where commuters on average reached a speed of 23.8mph.

The figures from the Department for Transport show that vehicles in West Berkshire travelling north along the A343 endured the slowest traffic in the district, with an average speed of 20.9mph.

Motorists who commuted to Newbury on the A339 northbound enjoyed a speedy 32.5pmh, while the southbound route average was 31.8pmh.

Westbound traffic along the A4 travelled at an average of 27.8mph, with eastbound traffic clocking up a speed of 29.8mph.

Those commuting from further afield, however, may have more reason to get irate in the morning, with westbound traffic along the A4 through Reading reduced to a crawl, at just 10.6mph, while the average speed across all A roads in the county town was a snail-like 13.8mph.

This compares to the fastest A road in the country during morning commute, the A289 westbound in Kent, where cars travelled along at a brisk 62.9mph while unsurprisingly the slowest commute in the country was in the City of London, averaging 8.7mph.

The figures for West Berkshire may come as a surprise to many motorists who find themselves stuck in traffic each morning, inching their way to work.

And recent roadworks in and around Newbury seem to have exacerbated what was already at times a gridlocked traffic system.

West Berkshire councillor Billy Drummond (Lib Dem, Greenham) said the figures do not give a true representation of the traffic situation in the town.

He said: “There are some terrible roads in Newbury, especially with the roadworks – some drivers would be lucky to get up to 20mph never mind 30.”

There is no average speed data available for the A34.