We have been advised of the following road closures by Hertfordshire Highways:

A405 North Orbital Road will be closed 9.30pm - 5.00am for 4 weeks starting on Monday 22 March.

2 Phases:
PH1: M10/A414 Rbt - Tippendell Lane Rbt, PH2; Noke Rbt - M25 J21a
Working Hours: 9.30pm-5.00am
Main Diversion: M25 J21a to J22, A1081 London Colney Bypass, A414 North Orbital Road, A405 North Orbital Road (and vice versa).

Non-Motorway Traffic Diversion: PH1 - A5183 Watling St / B4630 Watford Rd.

PH2: A5183 Watling Street / Park St / Frogmore / Radlett Rd, B462 Watford Rd / Radlett Rd / Hartspring Lane, A41 Otterspool Way / Colne Way / North Western Avenue, A412 St. Albans Rd, A405 North Orbital Road.

Noke Lane Diversion: Furzebushes Lane, Chiswell Green Lane, B4630 Watford Rd, Tippendell Lane.
Lye Lane Northbound - Lye Lane, West Riding, Park Street Lane, Tippendell Lane.
Lye Lane Southbound - Lye Lane, West Riding, Mount Pleasant Lane.

A1(M) Junctions 3 and 4 (Hatfield Tunnel) will be closed 10pm - 5.00am on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th March 2010
Signed diversions will be in place via the A1001.

If you have any questions relating to these works, please contact Hertfordshire Highways on 01438 737320

Message from FCC:

Good news - Network Rail have confirmed that Station Way will be resurfaced in April this year. Although there are no unfilled potholes at present, I’m sure that the resurfacing will be welcomed by all station users, not least by cyclists.

Network Rail and First Capital Connect will be liaising with Hertfordshire Highways, St Albans City and District Council and Hertfordshire County Council’s Passenger Transport Unit to ensure that station users are fully briefed. The work will be undertaken so that there is the least possible impact on access to the station.

This note has been sent to residents this week:

As part of our ongoing maintenance programme, Hertfordshire Highways will be undertaking carriageway Microasphalt works in your road. This treatment is applied in a double layer directly on top of the existing surface. The Microasphalt cannot be trafficked, on foot or by vehicle for up to 2 hours after the application. Once applied, the carriageway will be water tight preventing frost damage and will improve the overall running surface.

Unfortunately, the preparation works completed in January are defective due to material failure and require remedial action prior to the main surfacing works. These remedial works will be undertaken at no cost to Hertfordshire County Council.

The works will commence during the week commencing 15th March 2010. There is a possibility that works may be undertaken outside of these dates but every effort will be made to minimise any noise or disruption. The works will be undertaken under a road closure. Any change to programme will be shown on the Advance Warning Signs erected at either end of the road.

Please note that work will normally only be undertaken during the Day time hours of 09:30 to 16:30 Monday to Friday.

As you may appreciate, access to private properties will be disrupted during the works, but this will be kept to a minimum. In order for the works to be completed as quickly as possible, and to minimise inconvenience to you, we would ask that residents refrain from parking in the location of the works on the dates given. Hertfordshire Highways have legal powers to remove vehicles from this site.

For your information the anticipated duration is one week but this is dependent on weather and any other unforeseen problems that may be encountered once excavation works commence, E.G. alterations to utility services or mains.

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

TEMPORARY CLOSING OF VARIOUS ROADS IN ST ALBANS

NOTICE is given that the Hertfordshire County Council intend to make an Order under Section 14[1] of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to prohibit all traffic from using the following lengths of roads, except for access:-

1. that length of Belmont Hill, St Albans from its junction with A5183 Holywell Hill south eastwards to its junction with Thorpe Road, a distance of approximately 257 metres.

It is anticipated that this section of road will be closed between the hours of 7.30am and 5.30pm (Mondays to Fridays inclusive) for up to 1 week, sometime during the period 19 April 2010 and 23 April 2010, when signs are in place.

2. that length of Granville Road, St Albans from its junction with A1057 Hatfield Road south westwards to its junction with B691 Stanhope Road, a distance of approximately 237 metres.

It is anticipated that this section of road will be closed between the hours of 7.30am and 5.30pm (Mondays to Fridays inclusive) for up to 1 week, sometime during the period 3 May 2010 and 7 May 2010, when signs are in place.

3. that length of Albert Street, St Albans from its junction with A5183 Holywell Hill south eastwards to its junction with Keyfield Terrace, a distance of approximately 338 metres.

It is anticipated that this section of road will be closed between the hours of 7.30am and 5.30pm (Mondays to Fridays inclusive) for up to 1 week, sometime during the period 10 May 2010 and 14 May 2010, when signs are in place.

4. that length of St Vincent Drive, St Albans from its junction with Cell Barnes Lane south westwards for a distance of approximately 129 metres.

It is anticipated that this section of road will be closed between the hours of 7.30am and 5.30pm (Mondays to Fridays inclusive) for up to 1 week, sometime during the period 17 May 2010 and 21 May 2010, when signs are in place.

The purpose of the Order is to enable highway improvement works to take place.

If you have any queries about the highway improvement works or the temporary road closures, please contact the Project Engineer concerned Christopher Rowelle tel. 0300 123 4047 at the Mid Herts Hertfordshire Highways Area Office. Alternative signed routes will be provided for traffic whilst the road closures are in place.

County Hall 1 April 2010
Hertford John Wood
Herts Director of Environment and
SG13 8DN Commercial Services

UKIP have been making the following claim entirely without foundation:

I achieved a major breakthrough today with a committment from Herts Highways that the phasing of the traffic signals at Peahen junction of Holywell Hill will be changed in the next two to three weeks so that the pedestrian lights in Verulam Road will stay green whilst the main lights are green. This should immediately ease the long traffic queues along Verulam Road that have blighted the junction for years.

This is an area which I have been campaigning on for some time and I received yesterday the following statement from Herts Highways:

“Following discussions between the Mid Herts Area Office and the traffic signal team at Herts Highways it was agreed that the co-ordination between the Peahen traffic signal junction and the High Street pedestrian crossing would be investigated and improved if possible.

A call was passed to the traffic signal section from (Mid Herts AO) asking us to discuss the gentleman’s complaint. It was not explained that Mr Stocker was a member of a political party. Mr Stocker was told about the work that was currently being undertaken.”

So: no breakthrough and indeed no action. Merely a phone call where the results of my campaigning work were given out to someone who was posing as an ordinary member of the public.

Typical shabby UKIP tactics.

The condition of the road on the Victoria Street railway bridge is causing increasing fury among local residents. The massive and expanding holes (probably lethal to a cyclist caught unawares) are not being repaired because Network Rail won’t give access.

Chris comments: ‘I think it’s time the County Council just did it and put in a temporary repair. Or perhaps they should get their lawyers to sue - they are happy enough to do this for a trivial bill. Why not redeploy them onto something that matters? It can’t be left.’

The response from the Project Engineer.

“We would not start any resurfacing works with rain forecast. Also a scheme would not be started if there was good weather forecast for the odd night followed by poor weather, as this could potentially mean that a temporary road surface was left open, following planing out, for a prolonged period of time.

The reason for not working in the rain is that there are guidelines within which surfacing materials can / cannot be laid. There are three main weather conditions which would affect our ability to lay materials:
1. Moisture - Rain and snow - materials cannot be laid in the wet as it affects the ability of the asphalt to bond with the layer below it. It also accelerates cooling rates (see below)
2. Temperature and
3. Wind speed - both of these can cause the material to cool too quickly - before it has been fully compacted and therefore reduce its life. This is especially true with hot rolled asphalt (HRA), which is to be used at London Rd, as it can affect the ability of the chips to
stick to the new material and can cause safety issues with reduced skid resistance etc. if they later pluck out when trafficked.

If we were to instruct the Works Team to lay when the ensuing weather conditions are not within the laying guidelines of the material producer then they would not provide a guarantee for the material and any failures (the risk of which would be significantly increased) would have to be rectified at HCC’s and therefore the taxpayers’ expense.

Whilst we aim to get these works undertaken as quickly as possible following their postponement, they form part of a county wide programme of resurfacing and, as such, cannot simply be started the following week.

Given the severe weather we have witnessed in the past couple of weeks, we have had to postpone a number of schemes in all areas of the county and all have had to be re-programmed later in the year as the available surfacing crews are ‘fully booked’ until then. The May date I gave in my previous email was the earliest window available to resource the job.

Also we are currently drafting a bulletin for residents advising of the scheme’s postponement which will be going out tomorrow.”

Herts Highways says: ‘currently Woodstock Road South is down forprepatching in May and surfacing in August 2010.’

Let’s see.

Chris White’s daughter blew out a tyre in an unmarked pothole on Drake’s Drive on Sunday morning. Attempts to report the pothole as an emergency failed because the county council does not accept emergency calls about highways at the weekend:

Other cars were incurring similar damage: the picture below shows one of the many hubcaps on site being used to measure the depth of the hole:

Local residents are beginning to lose patience with the County Council over the condition of Woodstock Road South.

Potholes have reappeared with a vengeance despite recent temporary repairs. And now over 30 residents have signed a protest petition to be sent to the next Highways Panel, meeting in St Albans:

Meanwhile, one resident has resorted to satire by producing his/her own sign with the words ‘And Potholes’ immediately under HCC’s warning about traffic humps!

Chris comments: ‘I have managed to persuade the county council that this road cannot wait several years. But it is now clear that it cannot even wait several months. I have asked for an update.’