05/12/06 - Junction 6a, Thamesdown Drive Victory!

(Picture kindly reproduced from The Link Newspaper)

Junction 6a, Thamesdown Drive - Victory!
 
Phew!!!  How great a feeling was it to break the good news to the packed public meeting of at Bridlewood Primary School on Monday 4th December.
 
The potential closure would have been a nightmare for both residents adjacent to junction 6a, but also those by junction 7 who would have had to deal with the huge jump in additional traffic.  Therefore since the news broke about the potential road closure, we have worked extremely hard with local residents, with hundreds of e-mails and letters flooding in with 100% support for keeping junction 6a open.  We also kept residents updated regularly through the local media, leaflets and on our website.
 
As your elected Councillor, it is times like this we need to stand up and be counted, and I was extremely proud of the result.
 
When the estate was planned in the late 1990s it was agreed that junction 6a would be used for construction traffic before being turned into a bus-only route, however with the road now so well used, local residents were rightly determined to fight to keep the road open.  In addition local residents were furious that developers had used the junction as a selling point and then disgracefully failed to mention the potential closure.

With such a positive, constructive campaign and everyone working in co-ordination we were able to act swiftly, putting the pressure on to remove the legal requirement for the road to close.  In addition the council's Highway's department has already begun work on making sure junction 6a will be safe for the long term use, especially with the additional traffic as the estate grows.  The junction may may need tweaking (traffic light timings), or may need additional work - either way the junction will remain open - hooray!

Cllr Justin Tomlinson
Promoted by Swindon Conservatives, Unit 17, Dorcan Business Village, Murdock Road, Dorcan, Swindon, SN3 5HY
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