The County Council media team have produced a video about ‘congestion-busting’ , with 23 improvements across Essex.
A press release from the County Council indicates that one of the 23 improvements is in Rochford District – the Websters Way / Eastwood Road junction in Rayleigh.
Generally , these road improvements are simply the bread-and-butter work of County Highways – not really much to make a song and dance about. And no mention here of the ?60,000 for the pedestrian crossing at the Rawreth Lane/ Downhall Park Way junction that someone forgot to spend in time and therefore lost!
Just in case anyone is tempted – the Chelmsford Park & Ride scheme is only cheaper than parking in the town centre if there’s only one person in the car. The fare into town is £2.20 – so a car-load of four would cost £8.80. Someone needs to use a bit of imagination.
I found this website link from the BBC Essex site:
http://bbc.transportdirect.info/web2/home.aspx?repeatingloop=Y
I used it yesterday to plot the journey to Southend Hospital – bus number 20, as it happens. If you want to consider public transport, the site is quite useful.
What I found interesting is the journey time comparisons and price comparisons (where available). For every journey I tried, the car was quicker and cheaper, and if you take more than one person in the car it just gets better. Also, for my daily journey to work it could not suggest any public transport alternative, and I certainly do not know of one.
Obviously you have to consider parking (when required), and whether having someone else drive is more convenient for your situation, but it’s a real eye-opener.
The bus trip to Southend hospital worked out at £5.50 for two people and took 45 minutes, as opposed to £2.25 worth of diesel and 30 minutes in the car. It did save the trouble of parking, which is even worse with all the gas main upgrades in the roads surrounding the hospital.
Glad they are looking at existing congestion – 3,500 extra houses to be scatterred across the district will create a whole lot more. ECC Highways have just confirmed that they do not have any plans for major road improvements across the District. So don’t get too excited about a few changes now.