Maidenhead & Windsor

Windsor residents are to be asked their views on a trio of traffic and road safety schemes for the A308 Maidenhead Road in Windsor.

Questionnaires are this week being distributed to the emergency services, local residents' groups and more than 500 homes along the Maidenhead Road and surrounding area outlining three different proposals – drawn up in response to ongoing concerns about speeding, accident levels, lack of crossing facilities and traffic congestion.

The proposals outlined and illustrated in the consultation are designed to improve traffic conditions and road safety on the A308 between Rays Avenue and the Windsor relief road – identified in a study commissioned earlier this year which highlighted that in the three years to September there had been 16 injury accidents along this stretch of road.

Residents are being asked to comment on three proposed schemes:
· Vale Road to Mill Lane roundabout – reducing traffic towards Windsor to a single lane just after the racecourse and creating hatching in the middle of the road to allow right turns, to improve safety.
· Mill Lane roundabout to Windsor relief road roundabout – reduce two lanes to one lane for about 200 metres between the Mill Lane roundabout and the relief road roundabout to allow Maidenhead-bound traffic to turn right more easily into the petrol filling station, easing congestion and improving road safety
· Rays Avenue to Vale Road – create a pedestrian island in the middle of the road to improve pedestrian safety.

Maidenhead Cllr Antony Wood, lead member for road safety, welcomed the proposals. He said: "We have listened long and hard to the concerns expressed by local residents about this busy stretch of road, and are putting forward these proposals to try to address those concerns.

"The safety of our residents is of paramount importance, and we are now urging local people to tell us what they think of our suggestions. But we are aware that some people will have their own ideas about what should be done to improve safety along this road, and we want to hear those too.

"I realise this consultation comes at a busy time but we do need to press on with these improvements and I therefore hope residents will not mind spending a few moments to give the Borough their views."

Questionnaires are being delivered this week, and completed forms should be returned to High Services, Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 1RF by Monday January 16 2006.

For further information contact Vikki Lewis, acting Maidenhead traffic and road safety manager on 01628 796283.