Could we start again, please?

In 1914, as this photograph demonstrates, Hatfield Road has been much improved!  Not that we, in 2015, would appreciate that.  But considering that only fifteen years previously, this was a narrow lane, supposedly only wide enough for one cart to pass at a time.  So in that context, the road is certainly much improved.  After all, the County Council had kerbed and paved one side – the side where shops were opening up.  Not that many users were attempting to use the footpath; pedestrians were perambulating the full width of the roadway, and cyclists too.  Since everyone was travelling in the same direction, we may presume they are leaving the factories to make their way home.

Incidentally, the bushes on the left indicate that the shops east of Royal Road had yet to be built.

Fast forward another two decades and a second pavement will have been added, and motor traffic would have been sufficiently busy for an official parking zone to be created in Royal Road, and a bypass created between Ellenbrook and The Noke, via London Road and Watling Street, partly to relieve the congestion along Hatfield Road.

Bycullah Terrace in 1964
COURTESY ST ALBANS' MUSEUMS

During the forties the amount of traffic reduced considerably as severe petrol shortages kicked in and men were serving in the Forces.  It was during this period that young cyclists demonstrated their skills – or foolhardiness – by accelerating to the point where Andrew's, the greengrocer was, and still is, and freewheeling towards Sutton Road.  Naturally, what a waste of energy if you didn't actually do anything, and so little tricks were attempted, such as throwing out one's legs to the side, or drawing them up to the handlebars, carefully kneeling on the saddle, or taking one or more passengers over the rear wheel.  It was, naturally only a matter of time before accidents were had, but those who tried it must have thought it great fun.  Don't try this at home, or even in Hatfield Road!

From the sixties onwards parking became an increasing issue, the road was widened again, Sutton Road became busier after the former railway bridge deck was removed, and eventually the factory site which had been Ballito hosiery mills and Marconi Instruments, was developed as a retail centre.

The complexities of the road and its many junctions and access points now included light-controlled crossings and roundabouts – two of each in no more than three hundred metres.  Where, at one time, almost all of the children from the two schools would have walked to school, with or without their parents, now a significant proportion appear to be taken and collected by car.  Further, since most children attending the junior school on the south side, actually live on the north side, the crossings are well-used and help traffic to slow to a halt.

Which brings us to the latest improvement, added as a result of the Green Ring, which crosses Hatfield Road at the Post Office crossing, is a 20 mph limit zone from Morrison's roundabout to the Emporium.  I am sure this is useful at quiet times, but it is possible that travelling above this limit is pretty-well impossible anyway at the busiest hours of the day.  If only we could start again in designing Hatfield Road, Fleetville ...  No, no, no, let's not even think about it.  Nobody likes change. Except that, check the photo again; isn't that just what has happened, a great deal of change.

Further along Hatfield Road is a temporary yellow sign announcing Street Lighting Not Working.  It must rank among the least helpful notices for road users.  During the day no-one cares; after dark no-one can read it!