Arriving home this evening I was suprised to find that Stert Street was closed to traffic. The road has been seeping water for a couple of months, and work has started to fix it.
A sign says work to be completed on 23rd January. Until then the road will be closed overnight, and open during the day.
The road closure caused chaos during the daytime today.
I wonder why there was such a sudden need to take action in the middle of the day, when it has been like that for weeks.
This is from the road closure notice:
T2617 Abingdon – Stert Street – EMERGENCY CLOSURE TODAY
We have today been advised that Optimise, on behalf of Thames Water, are working in Stert Street in Abingdon and the road has had to be closed for emergency water works.
We are not sure at this point, as to the likely duration of the road closure.
So is there no access to the multi storey car park? Or access over the bridge?
Last thing I heard was that Thames Water were going to re-open Stert St first thing this morning and just work at night till it is finished – haven’t been to check though.
Signage and notice yesterday was appalling – locals know how to find alternative routes if we know there is a problem. As it was, no-one knew till we got to the bottom of the Vineyard by which time you have missed all the alternatives! The Councils do know where to put the signs, and do it for other closures, but I understand TW didn’t even tell them!
There was a sign at Lodgehill roundabout yesterday afternoon. Just said find an alternative route.
I see the latest headline on the TC’s website is for occupants
to find an alternative town to live in, we don’t give a damn.
It was chaos on Bath St, Farringdon Rd and Spring Road. No doubt the work needs doing, but my advice would be avoid those roads for the foreseeable…unless you like listening to the radio and being late for work.
I warned everyone about the need for the sacrifice of a virgin to the river goddess, and to hedge our bets prayer to St. Ert, patron saint of crumbling infrastructure, but would they listen???
I expect this explains the reappearance of a diversion sign at the Northcourt Road Oxford Road junction – bizarrely it was pointing left (down Northcourt Road) as you go out of town. I think the diversion signs are scattered at random junctions as some sort of absurdist performance art.
There was a brief outbreak of ‘danger of skidding’ signs but their moment seems to have passed.
“Danger of skidding” signs when there is a brief frost ? Are we now actually giving paid employment to people with a PhD in the bleeding obvious ?
I’m pretty sure that the reason for one of the danger of skidding signs (on Stert Street) must have been ‘danger of skidding on the ice that has come from water that has come from the leaking water main and then frozen.
To be fair,
it would seem lots of people do need to have the bleedin obvious stated, since they cant even manage to scrape their windscreens clear on these frosty mornings !