On a brighter note...

Improved pedestrian and cycle path

It's good to see that all the complaints about the pedestrian path/route through the Waterlooville Wellington Retail Park that I made on this blog over the years have been addressed.

See this speculative blog post that I made a few months ago (which includes links to other blog posts on the subject):

http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/a-real-path-at-wellington-retail-park.html

The path is now raised and has a curb, it also has had the number of exists/entrances that cut through the path reduced, making it far more acceptable as a way of getting into Waterlooville on foot.
As well as those practical features, there are also big 'planters' with trees and a few seats placed along the path (street furniture).

Addition (9/8/15): I should also add that the upgraded path was essential to improve access to Waterlooville for those using mobility scooters. The improved path ties in with the building of the new ramp. Previously mobility scooter users had a long tortuous route that took them around the town centre and pass the fire station.

So why did it take so long to fix it?

It has been wrong for as long as this blog has been going, why didn't they do this from the start?

Plus - it of course doesn't fix the problem that the retail park was a bad idea from the start and has helped to ruin our town centre.

A real path at Wellington Retail Park??

After years of battling with cars trying to find a parking space at Wellington Retail Park, it looks like
pedestrians and cyclists trying to cross the numerous car park entrances and exists are going to get a proper path, with curbs??

At least I think this is going to be a path??
Feel free to post a comment if you know better.

Related blog posts:
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/chaos-at-retail-park.html
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/waterloovile-pedestrian-access.html
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/salvador-caetano.html
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/paints-and-belligerent-car-drivers.html

Poor workmanship in Hampshire - really appalling path and pavement work

Outside a new building (PMC Construction offices) in Cosham near the train station, the builders have done probably the worst job ever in laying paving blocks.

The builders started laying a border of dark grey blocks to edge the red blocks, then when they had got about 80% complete, they just stopped.

As well as that, they used whole blocks near the black block edging and also by the metal drain, and filled the gap with small pieces.

Would have been better to put the small pieces next to the drain, like every other builder!











The same builders aren't to hot on curves either.

But it gets worse!
Here they start with one style of edging, then switch to another. Plus they cut one of the metal drains to an angle but leave the other uncut, which means the angle is very noticeable.
Any normal person would have cut both so that the transition between the two would have been visually more pleasing.

The site manager for the project should frankly be sacked. A DIY home owner would have done a better job.

It's not just Cosham where we have bad workmanship. Here are examples in Waterlooville where a utilities company couldn't be bothered to replace the stones and just resurfaced with tarmac.

 Some examples of how it should be done...

Chaos at retail park

Years after the Waterlooville retail park was expanded and the primary pedestrian route into Waterlooville wrecked by poor Havant Borough Council planning.
The trek into Waterlooville is still a nightmare with cars driving down the pedestrian and cyclist path.
The silver Audi in the photo is seen having just driven along the path, seconds before I had seen another car drive down the same section of path in the opposite direction.

The local councils (Havant Borough and Hampshire County) between them killed the old road into Waterlooville. The very road which had probably seen a few Battle of Waterloo soldiers on it 200 years ago. Now it's a car park that pedestrians struggle to negotiate. Oh yes, 'Waterlooville 200' is just great!

Related blog posts:
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/waterloovile-pedestrian-access.html
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/salvador-caetano.html
http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/paints-and-belligerent-car-drivers.html

Waterloovile pedestrian access

Over the years, access to Waterlooville by pedestrians and cyclists approaching via the Hambledon Road route have gradually eroded. Havant council are largely to blame by putting car drivers first and neglecting the needs of pedestrians and cyclists. This is typified by the retail park that now spreads across the main route for all pedestrians and cyclists that want to enter Waterlooville via the dual carriageway underpass.

Before the dual carriageway was built, we had a public road (Hambledon Road) that ran straight into Waterlooville, but the council through its incompetence decided to sell the land to private investors a number of years ago and the dual carriageway/bypass was built for motor vehicle traffic.



In this photo I have drawn the path of the original Hambledon Road, which was long and straight for most of its length. The kink in the red line indicates the steep hill the old road climbed to get into Waterlooville.

To the right of the old road there were fields and a hedgerow once defined the border between road and fields. So basically Halfords and other retail units on that side are where the fields were located.

What can be seen from the photo is the horrendous situation we have today for pedestrians and cyclists. Remember what you see is the main highway into Waterlooville for anyone that wants to cycle or walk. Car drivers have their own dual carriageway and the cars can park here as well. Pedestrians have to negotiate about 7 'junctions' in the car park all within a few metres of each other.



Here we can see the new Zebra crossing markings being abused by a typical driver. There are about 7 of these crossings and vehicles regularly stop across the cycle and pedestrian path.

If a pedestrian or cyclist did this in the middle of a busy road, they would get a lot of abusive language aimed at them from arrogant drivers.

Note that another van is also stopped on a Zebra crossing further up.



On the day that these photos were taken, about 5 vehicles (within a 5 minute period) abused the highway code by stopping on the Zebra crossings. More vehicles stopped on the path than they did before the markings went down!

The highway code 192 states:

"In queuing traffic, you should keep the crossing clear"

Also 191 states:

"You MUST NOT park on a crossing or in the area covered by the zig-zag lines."

Clearly we have queueing traffic here and the code is being abused.