‘Bad road’ needs an upgrade (From Andover Advertiser)

‘Bad road’ needs an upgrade

11:10am Friday 5th December 2008 in Search Module By Joe Faretra

HAMPSHIRE County Council have delayed work on the C29 – Overton to A303/Micheldever Road – until early next year, despite the poor state of the road.

Work on improving the haunches south of the railway-bridge, originally scheduled to start in September will not begin until 2 February 2009, and will last for two weeks.

The county council had been asked not to delay the work in view of the poor state of the road.

However, as part of its contract with Amey, it has to undertake all work estimated to cost below a certain amount.

According to the county council, Amey does not have the manpower to undertake the work earlier.

Transport and highways representative on Overton Parish Council Brain Langer said: “If you drive down that road you will see how bad it is.

“You only need a couple of HGVs to meet there and it wouldn’t surprise me if one toppled over because it’s such a bad camber.

“The whole road is bad.

“What most people are up in arms about is that it’s in such an abysmal condition for the amount of use it gets.

“We have asked the county council if they would change it to a B-road, which would mean that we’d get more money for its upkeep.

“There’s a lot of traffic at eight in the morning; we get school transport like double-decker buses.”

Mr Langer added that the closure of the C29 would mean that vehicles wishing to get access to places like Laverstoke Park would need to gain access via the village.

Resident Tony Morris supports the idea of the road being changed to a B-road as he feels the usage the road gets warrants an upgrade.

“It’s ridiculous – people use it, the abattoir and the farm vehicles use it and they’re getting bigger and bigger. The road wasn’t built for the amount of traffic that’s on it.”