Stop Go

Well, now we know; the junction with Hatfield Road for the new housing development at Beaumont School front field will be controlled by traffic lights, and not  a roundabout.  Of course, those of you who have already seen the plans will already be aware of this decision.  The same road will also give access to the school for large vehicles.  The only information not yet circulating is the name of the new road.  Not that it will make any difference, but we could receive suggestions for a suitable and appropriate name.

It will be the last light-controlled junction until the extensive Comet group of lights, and the first since The Crown, although the light-controlled pedestrian crossing right on the junction with Woodstock Road South might as well be full traffic lights considering how often the lights change for pedestrians; how difficult it can be for cars emerging from Woodstock to turn right.  In the distance between Morrison's and St Paul's there are four recognised pedestrian crossing points, three of them light controlled, while the crossing outside the cemetery is a Belisha model.

The first traffic lights on the east side of the city were installed at the Hatfield Road/Lemsford Road junction before WW2. It took another thirty years before a flurry of junctions on radial roads intersecting the ring road were added in the early 1960s, one of which was at the Beechwood Avenue/Ashley Road intersection.  Many of you will be confused, as it is a double roundabout.  It is now and only came to be so, because the original lights, which never included Beaumonts Avenue  of course, were problematic, especially at busy times.  Admittedly, if you regularly leave the city in the busy tea-time period, you will admit that the junction is problematic today too!  There is not really sufficient public space to funnel all streams of vehicles through the western end of the junction.  All four main arms of the junction also feature a Belisha crossing, the western version being the closest to the junction.

Perhaps this is the reason for the only ring road junction to become a permanent roundabout was the Redbourn Road/Batchwood Drive junction, where plenty of public land had been reserved, the ring road having arrived before the houses.

It will be interesting to observe what congestion develops during the school term and after the houses are occupied; and to what extent it becomes part of a wider congestion zone which would include Oaklands College, Wynchlands Parade shops being trapped in between.

My guess is that the next set of traffic lights will appear at the junction with Colney Heath Lane, but naturally we will expect a generous period of mayhem first while brains click into gear to design the junction which would include or exclude the college driveway at South Lodge.

Since the Comet group of traffic lights was mentioned earlier, this might be an appropriate point to observe the perimeter hoardings being erected around the Comet (Ramada Hotel) site recently.  This may come as a surprise to many, especially if you live in St Albans, as news of the development has only been carried in the Welwyn Hatfield press (which printed the most basic faux-pas suggesting that the building was named after the 1950s jet airliner rather than the 1930s competition racer.  The original Grade Two listed 1930s building is being retained and upgraded internally, the rather unprepossessing hotel extensions are being demolished in favour of a mix of hotel rooms/serviced suites and student accommodation, and more extensive parking.