The middle of the line

I got a mention in the Rugby Advertiser this week, on page 3. There was a picture, but it was not of me, so there is a relief for all…

What happened was that there were some works going on at the Paddox end of Ashlawn Road, and Severn Trent had needed to dig a hole. They also put in 3-way lights at the junction with Hillmorton Road.

I also spoke to a local resident, who had some pictures (including the one the paper used) to show the impact.

Basically, because the lights were right on the corner and there were no signs to say it was a 3-way control, some drivers were jumping the lights when coming in from Hillmorton.

Also, because of the queues, impatient drivers were using Elms Drive as a rat run, a road which is usually very quiet and has a fair number of pedestrians crossing and cyclists using it.

What is worse, some people were entering Elms Drive from the eastern end – which is a No Entry.

Luckily no-one was injured or hurt, but someone told me that there had been a couple of near-misses.

The hole has been filled and the lights went during the week. But Severn Trent will apparently have to come back soon as they could only do temporary fixes and the damaged sewer will need a permanent work done. On the positive side, they will at least have to go to Warwickshire County Council who will be able to set out how they can close lanes/roads and use controls.

Having spoken to the WCC Highways department about it, they are aware of the issues, and I know that local residents spoke to them as well. I was also worried about safety – especially for the Tuesday morning when schoolkids would be trying to cross roads in the area – so I called the police and asked them to take a look.

I think going forward this is a serious challenge to the proposal to put traffic lights there permanently (which is related to the Mast Site housing development). The junction certainly needs improvement – being near Ashlawn School and on the main route from Rugby to the DIRFT, it gets very busy at peak times. But if lights just encourage drivers to break the law, and create congestion, then they may not be the right answer.