No solution to road danger problem till March 2008

The good news is that the Highways Agency has pledged to solve the flooding which shuts the pedestrian underpass beneath the busy four-lane A259 trunk road at King Offa Way.

The bad news is that the work will be more complex than expected, will close the underpass for a week - and will not be started until next March.

When the underpass is unusable, parents and pensioners alike have two choices - a long detour down Chapel Path to London Road and then take their chances crossing the A259 at the busy traffic lights or take their lives in the hands by crossing without the benefits of traffic control half way up the hill.

Mother-of-two Antonia Chitty says: "As a parent at Chantry School who walks through the underpass almost daily, I am dismayed that the flooding will not be addressed until March next year.

"Parents and children are still seen crossing the road and this becomes ever less safe as the nights draw in.

"Even a simple wooden bridge would help."

Mrs Chitty says: "If it has been raining it is much too deep for my five year-old - it can come over the top of her wellies.

"I have a toddler too, who uses a buggy. The water can make everything wet in the buggy too.

"It can be a couple of metres in width - much too far to jump across unless you are very athletic!

"Sometimes it's unpredictable - although it is not raining there can still be water in the underpass, which makes it difficult always to allow the extra time you need to walk down to the crossing."

The Highways Agency says it had planned to install a mechanical pump to take away the flood water.

But it says: "It has become apparent during investigations that this would not be a feasible option to alleviate the flooding issue.

"Investigations have shown that the drainage underneath the subway is blocked and cannot be unblocked by the usual methods.

"Options to alleviate the situation, including pumping the water up to the A259, have been considered but it has now been agreed that we will repair the blocked drain by breaking through the subway floor to reach the drainage pipe.

"The pipe can then be unblocked and the concrete reinstated to form a new manhole to aid future maintenance.

"In order to carry out these works, it may be necessary to close the underpass to pedestrians for one week.

"Pedestrians will be diverted to the puffin crossing at London Road and Belle Hill (sic) should this be necessary.

"At the present time we are aiming for the works to be carried out in March 2008."

The agency says that in the meantime, its A259 incident support unit will regularly check the underpass when rain has fallen and use a gulley emptier to suck out excess water.