Twyford 20years event
oldskool | 16.09.2012 11:09
On Saturday 29th Sept there will be an event to mark 20 years since the Twyford Down protests, and the current plans to build hundreds of destrutive new roads.
oldskool
Comments
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90's background
16.09.2012 12:12
http://www.newsmedianews.com/m3.shtml
Hoping you will keep me posted....
Keith Harris
e-mail: newsmedia@eircom.net
clash
16.09.2012 14:23
richard
yellow monster machines
16.09.2012 17:04
thalia campbell
e-mail: oldlabour1@gmail.com
Homepage: www.birdchildsandgoldsnmith.com
Today
17.09.2012 13:16
Winchester had been a traffic bottleneck for many years as several major routes passed through the historic city centre, including the A31, A33 and A34, as well as smaller routes like the A272. In the 1930s, a by-pass had been built to the east of the city, passing immediately west of St. Catherine's Hill. Construction of this had been controversial as it affected the Itchen Valley and offered only a partial solution to congestion, with some people calling instead for a by-pass to the north and west of Winchester. With increasing traffic, the by-pass itself became a bottleneck, particularly at its junction with the A333 Portsmouth Road. Eventually it became the last missing link in the M3 motorway between London and Southampton. Pollution levels in Winchester itself and smaller villages nearby as a result of the congestion were way beyond EU levels with nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides, particulate matter (PM) or soot and carbon monoxide (CO) all at least 40% above what was legal as a direct result of the congestion around the bottle neck.
The situation today -
Traffic flows through the cutting are now at standard M3 speeds and journey times between London and Southampton fell by around 90 minutes within three days of opening. The Department of the Environment has monitored the pollution levels on a daily basis since the link opened and have reported a near immediate drop followed by a steady decline as the ambient pollution also fell - today NOx is down by 45%, PM by 80% and CO by 42% this despite a 30% rise on traffic numbers. In addition the level of diesel particulates in animals (a good source of understanding how much is being absorbed by humans) fell by 67% which was higher than expected.
Further Data Here
http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=AR0703_7117_FRP.pdf
http://animalhealth.defra.gov.uk/about/publications/pti/pti_england_2011.pdf
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/rural/documents/national-parks/south-downs/boundary-map.pdf
ex Hippie
@ today
17.09.2012 14:06
No cutting through the hillside was necessary at all.
It could be argued (and I think was) that the bottleneck at the traffic lights was allowed to remain so that drivers would get frustrated and demand the brand new road when it was put on the table.
I also heard recently that there was a traveller site on St. Catherine's Hill (??) and ploughing the road through there would conveniently get rid of it.
I stand to be corrected on any of this.
richard
about right
17.09.2012 19:49
you are about right I reckon, although not sure about the traveller site bit as the road was a long time being planned. The loss of the Down, with its wildlife, ancient monuments and history as an open space for the people of Winchester was not necessary and so much more could have been done instead.
Today there are new roads planned because politicians still believe that this will foster an economic boom; but all those roads were built in the 1990s and now we are in the worst recession for decades.
Bee
Bee