Stert Street was closed overnight to prepare for work on the culvert beneath. Contractors put up barriers and marked spots for new access holes to make it easier to reach the River Stert culvert underneath the footpath. The maintenance work and improvements will continue until May 16th, with another closure that night to remove the barriers. Traffic on the main road will not be affected, but the parking area outside 35-47 Stert Street (near Masons) will be used to store materials for the work.
For more information about this and other roadworks in Abingdon, view: https://one.network/.
Perhaps Stert Street should just be permanently closed to traffic? That would solve a lot of problems, and also encourage active travel.
How would you get to (say) Culham from South Abingdon? Via Sutton Courtenay. One problem solved, another created.
Or are you being mischievous again, Daniel? 😉
The answer is you go by bus, or bicycle.
“this is the way”….
In the long term closing Stert Street to traffic is probably an answer or slapping a weight restriction on it, however those things could really only happen once another bridge was built which seems unlikely as OCC seem set on spending on the road infrastructure linking its favourite town Didcot to everywhere seemingly indicating or sending out the message that Abingdon has its bypass (the A34 was once known as that) and all the other links it needs, Wallingford got another bridge, we didn’t.
The Stert culvert is a real problem, the percussive nature of large heavy traffic passing over the various road repairs along its length are constantly attempting to shake it apart, just go sit in the Broad Face for a real time demonstration of this as HGVs pass over the failing trench by the crossing and literally shake the building. Also some vehicles seem to pass over said trench faster than others and the resultant shock which radiates outward is greater. Stert Street is presently very well surfaced and that is for good reason. The culvert is a very old hidden piece of Abingdon history, have a look on YouTube and you’ll find video of it giving some indication of the task in hand stopping it falling apart.
Here is the YouTube link showing a trip up the culvert:
https://youtu.be/6Y_EKmMsWEU?si=Z9lsNKezcbH8B2gt
Named after Saint Ert, patron saint of orange barriers