Guildford Borough Council said: Come And See The Plans For The Ash Road Bridge
We’re holding drop-in sessions next month for residents in Ash who’d like to find out more about the construction of the Ash Road Bridge.
We’ll be at the Small Hall at the Ash Centre, Ash Hill Road, GU12 5DP on:
- Thursday 21 September 2023 – 3 pm to 8 pm
- Friday 22 September 2023– 3 pm to 8 pm
Come along to take a look at the plans and have a chat with the team.
If you can’t make it, you can visit our website for updates. The Ash Road Bridge page will be updated regularly during the construction of the bridge.
You can also subscribe to receive regular updates, ask questions or provide feedback by emailing ashroadbridge@volkerfitzpatrick.co.uk
Deputy Leader and Lead Councillor for Regeneration, Cllr Tom Hunt, said:
“We hope that these drop-in sessions will give the residents of Ash an opportunity to get an insight into the project and ask questions. We’re looking forward to meeting them.
Why is this bridge needed?
This development is part of Policy A31 of the 2019 Local Plan, which allocates land for new housing in Ash and Tongham. The Ash level crossing has been identified as a safety hotspot by Network Rail, which supports plans to close it. Network rail reports that the number of trains that travel through Ash has increased over the recent years with extra services on the North Downs line to Gatwick Airport, Reading, Redhill, Guildford and Farnham.
In the project description, GBC describes the project benefits will:
- Improve safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists by removing the hazard posed by the present level crossing
- Remove delays for the local community by easing traffic congestion
- Help reduce traffic cutting through inappropriate residential and rural roads to avoid the level crossing
- Alleviate increased traffic from current housing developments in Ash and Tongham
166 Trains per day
Network Rail reports that 166 trains per day are scheduled, which equates to approximately 7 per hour. That’s more than one every ten minutes. As Network rail reports each time a train forces the barriers down, cars and pedestrians are forced to wait 4 minutes. That’s 11 hours a day of cars sitting idling all through Ash.
Residents may wonder what the environmental impact of having so many cars sitting pumping out fumes for 11 hours a day and what effect all that pollution has on our children with all the schools in the vicinity?
Headline image source: Guildford Borough Council https://www.guildford.gov.uk/ashroadbridge