A quick reply from HCC this time...

A speedy reply from the HCC Traffic Management Team:

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Dear Mr Stead,

Thank you for your most recent emails and I apologise for the delay in a response.  With regard to the "No Stopping" sign in Nuns Walk, the sign does not appear to be located within any formal footway or footpath, it is currently located in the verge adjacent to the main carriageway and I would not envisage cyclists or pedestrians using this section of verge for any real purpose. [my emphasis - Ed] Unless there was obvious signs of damage or the sign was presenting a safety concern, relocating the sign would have little benefit.  I am also not aware of any historical complaints about the location of the sign.

I have looked at the latest 3 year personal injury accident data for the A34 slip road including sections of Nuns Walk and Winchester Road and there has only been one reported speed related accident during this period which was in October 2010.  It is important to note that the A34 including the slip road to the Nuns Walk/Winchester Road junction is not maintained by Hampshire County Council and this falls under the responsibility of the Highways Agency.  As a result, the County Council did not undertake and speed limit review for this road as part of the A+B Speed Limit Review and therefore should you wish to see the outcome of any speed limit review on the A34, you will need to contact the Highways Agency.  This would also include any request to reduce the speed limit along this road or the slip road to Nuns Walk/Winchester Road junction.  I was not fully aware at the time of your initial email, that this was not a road maintained by Hampshire County Council.

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So that looks like a pretty clear indication that communication with the Highways Agency is required. My response to HCC Traffic Management Team today:

Dear Highways Team,

Thanks for your reply. Two issues to pursue here:

1. No Stopping sign

Thanks for clarifying it is on 'verge'. Question: is this verge, and the sign's placement, controlled by HCC or the Highways Agency? Who would need to approve its relocation?
FYI I have raised 'Track It' cases for the sign (111001145001) and the verge's uneven surface (111001144994) as well as requesting what the legal status is of the footway, back toward Whitchurch and at this spot (111001145050).

Given that there is a substantial footway on the same northern side of Winchester road as the sign, ending on the other side of the A34 underpass, it seems common sense that pedestrians would proceed from the Whitchurch footway, under the A34 and emerge at the spot where the sign is located. This is evidenced by the beaten path between the sign and the kerb, and I can vouch for this having used it many times to get to & from Tufton with children on bikes. The idea that having travelled along the footway, people would then cross Winchester road, use the southern side of the underpass (which leads nowhere), then re-cross Winchester Road 30m later at the dangerous junction to continue to Tufton doesn't make sense to me. I've attached a piccy of this - I believe the green route is infinitely preferable to the red one.

[update: Eagle-eyed reader Andrew R-H points out: "There is a bus stop under the A34 which presumably people living in Tufton would get off at - hence another reason to have path from the underpass to the area near the stop sign." have passed this to HCC as well]

As mentioned, the sign does indeed present a safety hazard. It is located less than 1m from the kerb, forcing both pedestrians and cyclists to be much closer to 60MPH traffic exiting the sliproad than would otherwise be required. For cyclists (riding or walking their bikes), it has the added risk of catching a handlebar and tipping them into the roadway. For anyone travelling in a mobility scooter or wheelchair it presents a formidable barrier, their only option being to travel on the 60MPH roadway to get past.



I accept I may be the first person to think this could be made better through engagement with HCC.


2. Speed review

Can you please confirm where the Highways Agency jurisdiction ceases and HCC's begins? At what point on Winchester road? If HCC mandate that all of Winchester road be 40MPH (or less), what account does the HA then need to take of this in setting the limit for the preceding section of sliproad?

Regards

Mike