A417 Challow Road Closure

I have heard this week that it has been confirmed that Network Rail intends to close the A417 Challow Road to undertake the bridge work associated with the Great Western Rail electrification project.  At a meeting of all county councillors two weeks ago, we were told that a solution was being sought to undertake the work to the bridge which would cause minimum  disruption similar to the scheme found for the A338.

As my previous blog post reports, we had a good result from our negotiations on the A338 Wantage Road bridge, but sadly this cannot be said for the A417.  The road closure was agreed by senior officers, the Cabinet Member for Transport and the local member for the division in which the bridge is located.  So the fact remains that the road will close from September until December this year, with the main diversion route being the A420 and the A338.  Obviously, local light vehicles will find their own way round through the country lanes and we can only hope that this will not cause mayhem.

The decision was published by Network Rail on their website last week with a direct press release without any consultation with local elected county councillors affected by the route!  So despite their words about 'working with communities', this does not appear to be the case.

The A420 is due to close in July for major roadworks taking place on the Shrivenham bypass so we can only hope that all this work will be completed in time for this road closure, because the official diversion for the A420 closure is going to be the A417!  It will be absolutely crucial that there will be co-ordination going on between Network Rail and the County Council.  Sadly, not much evidence of this so far!