At the recent Valley Park Planning application meeting, David Marsh, one of Sustainable Harwell’s officers spoke to raise our concerns about the new 5-arm roundabout planned on the 4493 into Didcot. Following deferment of the application at the meeting, design options for the roundabout are being considered again by Oxfordshire County Council, The Vale and the developer.
Several ideas for improvement have been put forward and as Sustainable Harwell officers we would like to make sure that the following possibility is also included among them:
Reduce the number of arms on the roundabout from 5 to 4 by removing the planned new spur road which goes into the southern area of the Valley Park development. This would make the roundabout smaller as well as reducing the number of major crossings that pedestrian and cycle users would need to make. As part of its reduction in size the roundabout should be of radial rather than tangential design thus reducing the approach speed of cars entering the roundabout making it safer to navigate.
An emergency access route closed to non-emergency traffic, from the B4993 by the care home could be considered if access to this part of the site is deemed necessary. Traffic from the southern area of Valley Park would then access the Link Road via a new roundabout instead of the junction which is currently planned further along it.
The following diagram illustrates the suggestion.
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