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There was a request
to the highways committee for the completion of a road (to the right of
the top picture) through to Marsh Lane. More on this later.
I feel that traffic from
the Chester direction wanting to get to Crewe, the Potteries and points
south, etc,
should have been diverted on to the "outer ring road" - the A51
Chester to Stone road - at Burford Crossroads (the junction with the A534
Nantwich to Wrexham road) before it got anywhere near the road junction
at the aqueduct. But there is no mention of a ring road or a by pass at
the Burford Crossroads - just a clear sign to Nantwich straight on - and so, while I
have always regarded the A51 as such, perhaps that is not how the
powers-that-be see it.
That would prevent a lot of
heavy traffic which isn't aiming for Nantwich to get to its destination
without shaking the town up.
Even when traffic correctly uses the new road, it will miss out
Welsh Row but will still emerge in the centre of town, next to the
River Weaver bridge, and have to continue through the town centre to
reach its destination.
There is a four-way system in operation at the
river bridge
traffic lights. By that I mean, the four roads get the green light one
at a time. The usual pattern at many other junctions is that the lights let traffic proceed in two directions
(north and south; east and west) at the same time. Even if one might be
delayed in getting the green light to allow for traffic turning right or
left.
You can wait quite a while for
your turn to come round, and that is without pedestrians getting their
chance to cross - when all four lanes are halted.
One good thing about the new
proposals is that they do not include an idea to make Welsh Row one-way,
which would have caused enormous problems for locals (not to mention the
extra petrol used and greenhouse gasses emitted driving around the area
to the new road, and driving back into town). That plan was rejected
by the council committee over a year ago. See
here for the latest on plans for
Welsh Row.
lThe
point I make in the caption to the picture at the top of the page - about
the housing
 development
called Welsh Row being accessed off
 to
the right of Chester Road - raises another point. Taylor Drive ends in a
cul-de-sac (pictured right) bordered by trees. Pedestrians can get round
the barrier by crossing a stream (left) - after carefully making their
way down the river bank!
Taylor
Drive would come out in Marsh Lane if it wasn't for the blockage.
What
would be the continuation of the road is called Edmund Wright Way
(below). This is the view, same trees, from the other side of the
barrier. Edmund Wright Way bears to the right.
I get the impression that
the original idea for the roads may have been a single road from Welsh
Row to Marsh Lane - until it was decided that too much traffic would use
the road which emerges on a blind corner in Marsh Lane. Or was that just
because the two roads, both
 with
culs-de-sac, are neatly lined up on each side of the barrier?
A map produced by the old Crewe and
Nantwich Borough Council a few years ago - and the most up-to-date as
far as I know - shows the two roads as a single route
called Edmund Wright Way. Taylor Drive isn't shown at all.
lSome years ago, there was a plan to close Welsh Row and make Chester
Road and the two new roads into a T-junction. That would certainly have
stopped traffic using Welsh Row. But we Dabbers said a firm No to the
idea and it was dropped. One argument that could have swayed the
decision was that there might have been accidents involving drivers
suddenly being confronted with a dead end. The junction would have been
made less obvious by being viewed through the aqueduct and behind road
signs (see top picture). |
