New traffic plan after A41 roadworks cause Aylesbury traffic chaos

Transport for Bucks (TfB) and Taylor Wimpey have issued a combined statement outlining a new action plan for dealing with traffic after weeks of traffic misery on the A41.
Transport for Bucks hope the changes will ease traffic misery around townTransport for Bucks hope the changes will ease traffic misery around town
Transport for Bucks hope the changes will ease traffic misery around town

The new traffic plan was introduced on Thursday evening, after weeks of queues caused by a rogue set of temporary lights.

In a joint statement from TFB and Taylor Wimpey, they want to reassure drivers that they are working to 'ensure the smoothest possible traffic flow' while work is being carried out on a new junction which will serve a new housing development East of Aston Clinton Road.

A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey and Buckinghamshire County Council said: “We recognise that the traffic management plan we initially had in place was not as effective as it

should have been and apologise to local residents for the delays they have faced.

"We have been working closely together to address this and will be putting new measures in place which we hope will result in a significant improvement in the flow of traffic.

“The new measures will be closely monitored and we will continue to work together to ensure we are doing all we can to keep disruption to a minimum.”

New measures put in place to calm traffic include:

● Temporary ban on right turns from New Road onto the A41

● Left turn out of New Road onto the A41 to be a ‘give way’ junction

● Right turn from the A41 to New Road to be a ‘give way’ junction apart from during

peak hours, when traffic will be manually controlled with stop/go boards to minimise

queues

● Temporary pedestrian signals on the A41

● Uncontrolled pedestrian crossing in New Road using existing traffic islands

The combined statement comes after initial anger between the two parties, as Transport for Bucks revealed the first they knew about the works on the A41 was when Taylor Wimpey contractors unplugged the permanent traffic signals and their CCTV went black.

Buckinghamshire County Council’s Deputy Leader and Transport Cabinet Member, Mark Shaw said last Tuesday that he completely understood the frustration for drivers and he wanted to assure motorists that the County Council was doing everything it could to help Taylor Wimpey and their contractor sort the situation out

Mark explained: “The developer’s contractor was excavating where all the electrics for the existing crossing are located, which meant that the permanent lights had to be turned off and replaced with the temporary set.

"Unfortunately, the contractor took this decision themselves and what has been done now cannot easily be undone.

"We are not happy about this approach and will need subsequent discussions with the developer so this type of situation doesn’t happen again.

“It’s clear that the temporary set of signals has not worked very well, so we have given the contractor details of some intelligent temporary signals that can be used to more closely replicate the situation provided by the original set. These will be installed as soon as possible.

"I’d like to apologise on behalf of the developer and their contractor for what’s happened. Can I reassure everyone that the County Council is doing everything it can to get this resolved and get traffic moving again.”

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