IF the British public sector sponsored a Municipal Bunglers League, Herefordshire Council would surely be undisputed league champions.
Consider the evidence. When every authority in the land is focussed on the Green Agenda, Herefordshire wants to build a £130-million bypass and new road bridge. After the ignominy of having its grant applications for the Rotherwas Relief Road turned down on no less than three occasions by the Department for Transport, the council opted to go it alone—choosing an alternative route to the line recommended by its own highways consultants.
Can it get any dafter? It can.
Based on extensive knowledge of highway engineering, the council’s ESG property company plans to drive an 800m-long Link
Road from the north end of Commercial Road to Edgar Street. But this £6-million super-highway will be just one lane wide in each direction, with the smooth flowing of traffic interrupted by no fewer than four sets of traffic lights and assorted pedestrian- controlled crossings. And since the Link Road has to make a major T-junction when it reaches Edgar Street, this will further exacerbate north-south traffic movement along the A49. Which should really please the Highways Agency!
Originally conceived as a ‘relief road’ replacing Newmarket and Blueschool Streets, the Link Road will also be expected to carry the high volume of bus traffic entering and leaving the pick-up points in front of Hereford Station, as well as the large numbers of car-bourne shoppers who use the Morrisons supermarket. Surely a recipe for chaos.