Aylesbury Traffic Update

After Monday morning misery for motorists, Buckinghamshire Highways have issued a statement, including details of a fixed penalty notice for Thames Water.

This morning (13/5/24), large parts of Aylesbury were gridlocked due to a number of emergency and scheduled works.

Thames Water were carrying out emergency repair work on the A418 at the junction of Burcott Lane, and began long term work on the same road near Parsons Lane. Restrictions were also in place for another lengthy project to improve the Stocklake Junction on Oakfield Road, along with emergency lights on the Tring Road due to issues with the permanent signals (neither of those works were under the control of Thames Water). The combination of all these works left drivers queuing for long spells, with some reporting it took well over an hour to complete simple, short journeys to work or school. 

Buckinghamshire Highways acted to request Thames Water suspend the work near Parsons Lane until the Burcott Lane repairs are complete. They also found the utilities company in breach of their permit for the Burcott Lane work for not manually controlling the temporary signals and issued a fixed penalty notice.

You can read the full statement from Buckinghamshire Highways below.

A418 Aylesbury Road (Bierton)

Near to the junction with Burcott Lane, Bierton. These are Thames Water, emergency works. These started on evening of Friday the 11th of May and were to repair a water main. Following becoming aware of the emergency works, we sent a technician to attend site on Monday the 13th of May. The Technician reported that the repair had been completed and backfilling was being undertaken and once the road had been tarmacked the temporary lights would be removed as soon as the surface was safe to do so. Due to the sensitivity of this road in conjunction with our Permit Coordinators reviewing the permit, the end date of the works was duration challenged down for them to be clear of site by the Tuesday the 14th of May. This is a day less than what Thames wanted additionally a permit condition was added for Thames to manually control the temporary lights between 07:00-19:00 hours. Both these were done in a bid to mitigate the effects of these emergency works.

Roads Technician observed that Thames were in breach of their permit conditions and not manually controlling the lights. Thames were therefore issued a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for this and reminded of the requirement to adhere to the permit conditions.

On this stretch of road there were planned Thames works taking place on the A418 near to the junction Hoods Farm Close between 13th of May through to the 27th of July junction of Parsons Lane. Due to the emergency Thames works taking place, we contacted Thames and requested they delay and remove any Traffic Management (TM) they may have started setting up for these planned works. Requesting that they start phase two of the planned works from the 16th of May (Thursday) after their emergency works have been completed. The planned Thames works now starting on the 16th of May (instead of the 13th of May due to this clash) There will be manual control of traffic signals between 07:00-19:00 hours. These works will be closely monitored and attended by Streetworks Technicians throughout their duration.

A41 Tring Road

The works taking place on the A41 Tring Road at the junction of New Road (near the Holiday Inn) are emergency traffic signal works due to the failure of the permanent signals yesterday. Due to the location and sensitivity of the road, temporary lights were required for safety. UK Power Networks (UKPN) have been on site today investigating the nature of the fault, having reported unstable voltage at the location. This has been treated as a priority by the Council and the A41/New Road signals are back on this afternoon. The temporary TM has been removed and our signals engineer is remaining on site to monitor the situation in case of a further power cut.

Oakfield Road/Bellingham Way

These are planned works for improvement and remediation to the signalised junction and adjacent areas, which are due to last till the 2nd of August. The TM consists of lane closures only, with the permanent signals being phased to work more effectively coinciding with the construction programme. There may be need for temporary signals during certain phases of the works, but this will be limited to mitigate the impact on the travelling public. Our inspector has been out and arranged the removal of two of the lane closures at this junction for the remainder of this week due to the impact of the emergency works in the area.

Streetworks team are actively monitoring the situation, recognising the sensitivity of the network in Aylesbury and the impact this has on residents and the travelling public. Our inspectors will be out on site on a regular basis to ensure that the Traffic Management is appropriate and in accordance with the permit conditions imposed.