The new active travel scheme on A4 Western Avenue in Newbury is progressing well. It will link Brummell Road and the Waitrose roundabout and is designed to  improve connections from the main part of Speen estate and Robert Sandilands School with the northern end of the town.

The scheme design was modified in response to feedback received through the public consultation exercise. For most of its length, the north side will have a 3m segregated bi-directional cycle route with a 2m footway to the rear, but there will be short sections of shared use path at either end. A new shared-use path will be created on the south side, which will extend from Waitrose to a point just west of Old Bath Road, at which point cyclists will transition back to the carriageway, protected by a traffic island. Toucan crossings will help cyclists cross the A4 just to the west of the Waitrose roundabout and east of Old Bath Road. An additional uncontrolled crossing will be provided to the west of Brummell Road. The following link shows a PDF of the scheme layout: A4 Western Avenue Active Travel Improvements.

Spokes broadly welcomes the scheme, which will support local residents and school kids making local journeys on foot and by bike and will help to reduce the dominance of the busy A4 corridor, which acts as a significant barrier. However, reservations have been expressed about some elements of the scheme, particularly the shared use path on the south side. Although this footway has very light flows of pedestrians, there are locations where cyclists will have to give way to traffic, rather than having priority as per design guidance and best practice. This includes the crossing of Old Bath Road. As a consequence, experienced cyclists may still choose to remain on-carriageway when travelling westbound, which will no doubt irritate people who are driving behind them.

The scheme is scheduled to be completed by the end of April, with the next phase planned to include a link east of the Waitrose roundabout towards the Winchcombe School.