A33

[The 17 Bus]

After ten years it seems obvious that the road systems are not adequate for the football stadium traffic.

Would anyone agree that the roundabout leading to Hurst Way should be replaced with lights,with a new pedestrian crossing?

This assumes that parking will remain in the area eg, current Park n Ride, new park and ride at Grazeley, lights instead of the roundabout would allow traffic to leave the stadium and turn right towards the M4, while pedestrians could cross earlier at the lights to go left down the pavement to Acre Road, or right to go towards Holiday Inn area??

Is this too obvious, or is there a major flaw to the idea? (other than RBC and money)

[Jerry St Clair]

There are so many fundamental flaws in the stadium design, I'd be incined to knock it down and start again.

[The 17 Bus]

There are so many fundamental flaws in the stadium design, I'd be incined to knock it down and start again.

Would you add more seats at that point?

surely a few chnages could make it easier??? filter lanes for the buses for instance.

[Dirk Gently]

One fundamental problem is that there is not enough parking for buses, and so they have to be parked at the Green Park roundabout which makes that even more congested. It's the buses and the exit of cars from Green Park that cause a lot of the problems.

TBH the way many people drive in their mad rush to gain an extra couple of inches of tarmac advantage over everyone else I suspect lights wouldn't make a difference as people would just ignore them and so the junction would be permanently gridlocked.

[The 17 Bus]

we should get PP onto it, he is the roads expert here.

[rabidbee]

Possibly not the most constructive observation, but it's a shame that they didn't make the pedestrian routes and the roads completely separate.

I'm still in favour of closing all carparks until at least 15 minutes after the final whistle.

[Dirk Gently]

Possibly not the most constructive observation, but it's a shame that they didn't make the pedestrian routes and the roads completely separate.

Agreed - one of the things where hindsight would be wonderful!

I'm still in favour of closing all carparks until at least 15 minutes after the final whistle.

They do - the problem is people who leave the match early and get to their cars before the final whistle, and so are on the surround roads once the whistle goes and the remaining people leave en masse. With a drab match suddenly won 4 minutes before the end it was a recipe for disaster on Saturday.

[West Stand Man]

It is funny how people totally change their pedestrian habits simply becasue they are exiting a football stadium. I'll bet few, if any, of them would normally cross diagonally over a roundabout and ignore all the cars trying to get round it; yet wait for the end of a match at the Madejski and there they go down to the bottom of the hill at the back of the East Stand and straight over the roundabout. It is hardly surprising that car drivers get a touch frustrated by the roundabout being locked up by parents thrusting their kids into the road in order to stop the traffic (and then looking furiously at you when you nearly hit the little blighters who they have risked in that manner). I know, it isn't just at the Madejski, it is everywhere where there are football fans and a road - but that is my little rant and I am going to get it off my chest!

[Jerry St Clair]

Would you add more seats at that point?

Actually, i should have clarified. It's the stadium environs that need scrapping and starting again. Pedestrian access is woeful. In the immediate vicinity of football grounds pedestrians should take priority over cars and buses, but at the Madejski the opposite is true.

The access out the back of the East Stand (safety gate etc) has been gone over many times on here. There is still the absurdity of the pathway along the back of B&Q ending abruptly at the mini roundabout near the megastore forcing pedestrians out into the road.

I could go on. Basically, on matchdays all roads around the stadium should be "locked down" until at least 20 mins after the final whistle. And I actually include the A33 in this between the Green Park Roundabout and the brewery which should be handed over to pedestrians leaving the stadium.

[Dirk Gently]

Basically, on matchdays all roads around the stadium should be "locked down" until at least 20 mins after the final whistle. And I actually include the A33 in this between the Green Park Roundabout and the brewery which should be handed over to pedestrians leaving the stadium.

RBC won't even agree to the paining of yellow boxes on the A33 roundabout to stop it getting gridlocked, so good luck with that one!

[Jerry St Clair]

They do - the problem is people who leave the match early and get to their cars before the final whistle, and so are on the surround roads once the whistle goes and the remaining people leave en masse. With a drab match suddenly won 4 minutes before the end it was a recipe for disaster on Saturday.

Change the process then. Lockdown the car parks from 4.30 for a Saturday game as Birmingham do. Few people would leave 25 mins before the end just to beat the traffic.

Oh......

[Jerry St Clair]

RBC won't even agree to the paining of yellow boxes on the A33 roundabout to stop it getting gridlocked, so good luck with that one!

Oh, I fully appreciate it's a utopian dream.

[Thaumagurist*]

Basically, on matchdays all roads around the stadium should be "locked down" until at least 20 mins after the final whistle. And I actually include the A33 in this between the Green Park Roundabout and the brewery which should be handed over to pedestrians leaving the stadium.

RBC won't even agree to the paining of yellow boxes on the A33 roundabout to stop it getting gridlocked, so good luck with that one!

Did they give a reason why they wouldn't agree to painting yellow boxes?

[Dirk Gently]

They do - the problem is people who leave the match early and get to their cars before the final whistle, and so are on the surround roads once the whistle goes and the remaining people leave en masse. With a drab match suddenly won 4 minutes before the end it was a recipe for disaster on Saturday.

Change the process then. Lockdown the car parks from 4.30 for a Saturday game as Birmingham do. Few people would leave 25 mins before the end just to beat the traffic.

Oh......

No arguments with that, even though it'd slow down my own exit.

If possible there ought to be separate exits for cars and pedestrians, but even then I suspect that some pedestrians would ignore safety and go for shortest possible distance.

[rabidbee]

Sorry. I meant closing the car parks for the duration of the match (or at least from c. 4:30) until 15 minutes after the end of the game.

[Dirk Gently]

Basically, on matchdays all roads around the stadium should be "locked down" until at least 20 mins after the final whistle. And I actually include the A33 in this between the Green Park Roundabout and the brewery which should be handed over to pedestrians leaving the stadium.

RBC won't even agree to the paining of yellow boxes on the A33 roundabout to stop it getting gridlocked, so good luck with that one!

Did they give a reason why they wouldn't agree to painting yellow boxes?

Think so but I'm afarid I can't rememebr what it was - something about the category of road this is.

[Thaumagurist*]

Are yellow boxes really not allowed on A roads?

[Dirk Gently]

Are yellow boxes really not allowed on A roads?

ISTR there are different types of A roads - some have strategic significance to the UK-wide transport infrastructure (the old "trunk roads) - whilst others are just A roads.

[Wycombe Royal]

Sorry. I meant closing the car parks for the duration of the match (or at least from c. 4:30) until 15 minutes after the end of the game.

15 minutes after the end of the match and some people are only just getting out of the stadium, let alone having managed to walk all the way round the stadium because of the bloody safety gate.......

[rabidbee]

Fair enough, although presumably after 15 minutes enough people will have left that it should be possible to walk easily down the pavements, so it only needs lollipop stewards at the pedestrian crossings.