A20 Resurfacing- Councillors Write.....

8 January 2008

Below are major letters from TWO leading Councillors on the upcoming A20 Resurfacing.
The Councillors are Nigel Collor and Roger Walkden. Please read on.
Add your comment below.
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Roger Walkden, Dover
lindenrog@aol.com
Monday, 7 January 2008 - 9:46am


A20 Resurfacing Works, Dover (commencing March 2008)


As many of you are already aware, the above works will be broken down in to 13 phases (each phase covering a different section of the A20). In order to help some of the affected businesses along the route, InterRoute have been asked whether the dates for the various phases are yet known.
InterRoute have replied saying that they can not at present give specific dates for any of the phases other than the Phase 1 which will start on Monday 3rd March 2008.
However, InterRoute has stated that it will be able to send schedules of planned dates for the phases, probably in early February once their contractor has supplied it to them. In addition, InterRoute has stated that the commencement dates for each of the phases will be known 2 weeks ahead of each start date and the public will be notified of these.

They have stressed that the dates will be subject to changes in the event of unforeseen circumstances or emergencies arising.

It is understood that InterRoute are currently in contact with the RNLI to address the issue of crew members living along Folkestone Road being able to get quickly through the road works and diversion routes to the Lifeboat Station in the event of a callout.

I would like to remind you of the exhibitions which InterRoute have organised in Dover later this month. These exhibitions are open to all who wish to attend:

Dover Town Hall
Fri 18th January (evening), 5pm - 9pm
Sat 19th January (morning) 9am - 1pm

Whitfield Village Hall
Fri 25th January (evening), 5pm - 9pm
Sat 26th January (morning) 9am - 1pm

Hope you don't suffer during this period - stay calm !!




Roger
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Nigel Collor, Dover
Thursday, 27 December 2007 - 8:34am

It is now under 10 weeks before the resurfacing of the A20 through Dover commences.

Over the past few weeks, Dover District Council officers and I have tried to get as much information on this as possible and have kept the major stakeholders in the area of the proposed plans.

Below is an Email that I sent to all major stakeholders and the media on 9th December. It is now time for this information to be known to the wider community.


Good morning to you all,

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for the support and interest that many of you have expressed since the proposal to resurface both carriageways along the whole length of the A20 between the Western Heights (Aycliffe) roundabout and the Eastern Docks was known. I would like to thank Gordon Measey for his work in helping inform our community and take the opportunity to advise that both myself and the Leader of the Council, Cllr Paul Watkins, are keeping abreast of the evolving situation from the Elected Executive angle and to bring you up to date from our angle.

As many of you will appreciate, Dover District Council is not a highways authority but we need to keep involved and work with our highways partners having some of the busiest roads in the country, together with the associated problems, right on our doorstep. Although we at DDC would want to be kept in the loop for continuity, precise questions on the A20 resurfacing need now to be directed to area4@interroutejv.co.uk that will be carrying out the work on behalf of the Highways Agency and who need to be made aware in advance of any problems that can be foreseen so that they can be ready to take any action necessary. Having said that, I will personally be willing to discuss this issue with anyone or any organisation at any mutually convenient time and continue to ensure ongoing dialog with all concerned.

Please be assured that through working closely with Interroute, the Highways Agency and Kent Highways Services your District Council will endeavour to ensure that you are fully informed of moves and additional information as we enter the final few weeks before the 12-15 weeks of disruption that these road works commencing on 3rd March, 2008 will cause.

The main message we all need to get out is that Dover will not be closed and, to use a term we have used before, ‘Team Dover’, will make sure of that.

Interroute have now advised dates for their public presentations as 18th/19th and 25th/26th January, one at Whitfield and the other in Dover with precise details to follow through postcards to local postcodes. This is as you will appreciate a mere 5 to 6 weeks before commencement of the works which was the main reason why I requested Gordon to convene our own Major Stakeholders Meeting at Whitfield, during October. January would provide too short a timescale for the good people of the Dover District to get to grips with the turmoil that they will be faced with and raise any important concerns they may have, as indeed many of you did at the meeting and have since.

Congestion will be our main problem in my mind, followed closely by the loss of on-street parking at ‘pinch points’ along the B2011, Folkestone Road and access to the Aycliffe & Ropewalk area of the town. On the subject of congestion, we need to acknowledge and address the importance for all of our emergency services to get to incidents as quickly as possible, naturally we think of the Kent Fire & Rescue Service, South East Coast Ambulance Service and Kent Police but this equally relates to our friends at HM Coastguard and the Dover Lifeboat – crew members of the latter do not enjoy the ‘blue light’ facility but discussions to find an way of identifying crew members hastily accessing the Lifeboat Station when required are proceeding. We need to rely on and support Kent Police to ensure that there are no lorry queues allowed to form on Folkestone Road and that all other highways in the area are kept flowing freely. This would, hopefully, mean a very much quicker response when ‘Operation Stack’ needs to be implemented on the M20 motorway or other remedial measures when a problem arises that will either cause disruption to the frequency of cross channel ferry services or when exceptionally heavy volumes of traffic become evident or can be readily predicted.

We will also be ensuring that both Stagecoach, who will be offering the best possible services to both Aycliffe and East Cliff/Eastern Docks during the works, and Southeastern Railway are kept fully informed as people may chose to use public transport as an alternative to using their cars during this period to help ease the inevitable congestion.

There are a number of issues that Interroute has not yet acceptably addressed:

One is the diversion of traffic from the A20 to the B2011 that will involve diversions in both directions at times – I can recall in a meeting a number of years ago being advised by Kent Highways Services that when the Traffic Management Scheme was introduced along Folkestone Road it would be possible for two Heavy Goods Vehicles and a cyclist to pass each other. Having asked a colleague working in Freight at the Eastern Docks to select an HGV at random and measure the width, we calculated that the cyclist would have a 2 feet width, just about the width of anyone’s shoulders – this is how tight movement of this traffic will be on that road and, no, I would not like to be the cyclist. Road safety must be paramount at all times.

Another is the diversion route where HGV’s needing to access the Western Docks Freight Clearance Depot will directed from Whitfield (A2/A256), through Barton Road (A256) and Maison Dieu Road (A256) into the local roads namely Castle Street. Market Square/King Street and Queen Street before going onto York Street. Interroute’s comments so far have been that Somerfield’s, in Stembrook, use artic for deliveries. Yes, they do, but Somerfield’s artics, around 15 metres in length, negotiating the Castle Street entrance arrive either down Castle Hill Road or from the Townwall Street direction thus either going straight ahead or turning left into Castle Street. This diversionary route will mean continental HGV’s with drivers in unfamiliar surroundings, usually 16.5 meters artics, but often 20 metres lorry-trailer units, will be turning right into Castle Street at a junction where I am still lobbying Kent Highways Services to get some unfinished work completed. I just trust that Interroute are ready to replace the special ornate bollards at this junction and Kent Highways Services to repair any damage to the highway or Yorkstone footway in what is one of Dover’s most attractive roads and the most popular pedestrian route to the world famous Dover Castle.

If I were cynical I might think that local knowledge should be regarded as a valued asset.

Following some long periods of disruption while Dover’s one-way system has steadily been resurfaced over the past couple of years we must ensure that Kent Highways Services react quickly to ensure that any damage to any part of that network is repaired as soon as practicable. Being the A256, the road does enjoy ‘A’ classification status.

For your information and so that we are being open, I have ‘blind copied’ this Email to managers of Kent Highways Services, Interroute, the Highways Agency, Stagecoach and Southeastern Railway.

Ends