Route residents dread 28,000 lorry trips
Wednesday 10th August 2011, 2:29PM BST.
Flight attendant Katie-Jo Ford-Parker fears late-night traffic might make her early starts difficult. 1169451
PEOPLE living along the airport aggregate supply route are preparing for the worst with 28,000 trucks set to pass by their homes.
Over the course of two years 350,000 tonnes of material will be driven to the airport from Longue Hougue around the west coast, returning via St Martin’s and Le Val des Terres.
Grande Rue residents said the road did not need any more traffic.
Housewife Janette Peters, 50, said recently a car had hit two young girls as they crossed the road after getting off a bus.
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You are kidding that these trucks are going through St Martins Village!!!!! Co-op and M&S cause lots of traffic anyway. There are stables with 20+ horses just near Senners, plus schools, banks, 2 petrol stations, independent shops and the Manor Stores complex. The whole area is almost at gridlock already. At school times it comes to a standstill. I cannot believe that there is even consideration that tens of thousands of truck movements are being directed along here. Staggering – and bloney dangerous!
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350,000 tonnes.
Several aircraft carriers worth of material.
No planning enquiry.
Is no one able to stop this madness?
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I-would-imagine-that-the-empty-trucks-are-being-sent-that-way-so-that-people-like-Katie-Jo-Ford-Parker-don’t-have-to-suffer-a-double-whammy-of-journeys
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It has been too easy to dismiss the airport resurfacing and perimeter extension as an issue affecting only those living in the western parishes.
There is still time for the rest of the Island to WAKE UP to the fact that it is YOUR tax and YOUR roads that are involved in this highly over-specified project. Yes the runway needs resurfacing, but this has turned into one of the biggest airport projects in Europe, right here in little ol’ Guernsey! There are sure as hell some States members with delusions of grandeur.
Write to the environment department and OBJECT!
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28,000 lorries over 2 years,
thats 38 journeys a day, or if they work 10hrs a
day, 1 every 15mins!!
chaos, gridlock, danger, polution.
plus can our roads actually take the strain of so much heavy traffic??
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Ah, to be one of the fools quick to comment and judge without reading the documents that are publicly available.
All I have to do is search the EIA for “school opening” and what do I find? The hours of operation will be timed so that…the route avoids…school opening/closing”
I also saw that the vehicles will be “Guernsey compliant” – I presume that means no bigger than we currently have trundling about.
What I couldn’t find on a light search was the actual proposed hours of operation. Would be interesting.
Calm down!
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I don’t want to appear insensitive to those who will be affected. But ..
Whilst I will admit to being a little surprised by the return route through St Martins, I am amazed that it seems to have come as news to anybody that the outbound route would be along the West coast. Where exactly did you think the lorrys WOULD be driving ? I would have expected them to run there both ways, so from my point of view the problem has actually halved …..
Everybody seems very good at reacting to events, and complaining about things at the last minute, but nobody seems to be proactive about anything …. ( mind you, I’m just as guilty as anyone else for that … )
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jason cook
Was that a tongue in cheek comment?
I can’t see that one lorry every 15 minutes is going to cause gridlock
The one ahead of the one which scrapes your car as it turns sharp left at the Vale Church will surely be somewhere beyond Vazon at that moment (Probably entering the airport if they employ our ‘yellow lorry’ drivers)
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Does anyone know the exact route these trucks are going to take? I’ve been searching online and can’t find anything.
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Steve
Bulwer Avenue to the Halfway,St Clair,Route Militaire to the Vale Church,L’Islet Coast Road,Picquerel etc along the West coast to L’Eree hill and up to the Airport.
Returning empty via Forest Road,Grande Rue St Martins,Saumarez Road,down the Terres and along the seafront back to Bulwer Avenue
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Toby:
I agree that it is a shame that everyone’s concern is only piqued at the 11th hour. It seems that until something is actually confirmed to be going ahead, there is a reluctance to spend the time and effort looking into every possibility that will come out of the States. And really, that is pretty understandable. At any one time, there are several consultations (all of them deathly reading) that the public should be reading and responding to, and Billets the size of Encyclopaedia Brittanicas to trawl through. It would take a full time job to keep up with it all and who has the time or inclination? It would be nice to trust our elected Deputies but some of the decisions are just too big (I think) to leave unchallenged.
At the moment there is the Energy Policy consultation that needs responding to. I think Environment are about to bring out their Traffic Strategy ideas that will also require a response, and then there is the Waste Strategy too which will be returning with a third attempt at getting an incinerator through. And then there is this over-sized airport project being pushed through at a time when we are being told that money is too tight for a Bowel Cancer screening program that really WOULD save lives. The more I think about this airport extension, the more angry I feel about it. Other than repairing and improving the runway, the money that is being squandered on moving the whole thing westward could be so much more effectively used to improve life in Guernsey in ways that would make us a far more secure community.
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People of guernsey
Step out of the box before you think
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re: ‘pbfalla’ . Don’t beat around the bush….explain yourself man! ( or shut up).
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Exactly Rosie!
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Would’ve been far cheaper to just level out the existing material at the airport runway.
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I do find it a little ironic that somebody who works for an airline is unhappy about the Island taking steps to ensure the future security of that industry. Instead of NIMBY, is this a case of NUTROMB (Not Using The Road Outside My Bedroom)? I accept it’s not quite as catchy!
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@ pbfalla,
What an original and worthwhile comment, well done fella.
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Jon,
The project that has been passed by the States is not about ensuring the future security of the industry. In the widest sense it is not possible to definitively ensure the future security – things such as dwindling oil and resources are outside of Guernsey’s control.
What should be done is to maintain the runway, including taxiways, apron and drainage. We should also apply to the CAA to definitively discover the minimum length grass RESA that is required for the Guernsey operation before pressing ahead.
The likelihood is that, in a time of austerity, we are spending at least £30m too much “future proofing” against a hugely uncertain future.
Should we need a longer runway in the future (and Mott McDonald countenance against it) the only way would be to apply for shorter RESAs. If we are future proofing against this, is that not an argument that it should have already been done?
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j jones
The key part of your post is the first nine words
Surely the rest is a waste of ink?
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If you object to what is being proposed then please write to the Planning department right now and object.
This project is too big and over specified. Is too expensive and has too much of a degrading impact on our small island that will continue to be costly for generations to come.
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Every time I read about this huge project, I can only shake my head in disbelief. To improve the poor state of the runway yes, but this extension with the massive expense involved is beyond a joke.
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The route has been decided by the powers that be and WON`T BE CHANGED no matter what the arguements so live with it. Gobbing off on here isn`t worth a sow`s ear.
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28000trucks/2years/52weeks/5workingDaysperWeek/8workinghoursaday = 6.73 trucks an hour or 13.46 trucks an hour if we need to include the empty ones going back.
So yes it will be noticable if you sit on the same spot on a road and count them, but so many cars use the road in an hour that the 13.46 passes of a truck is a relatively small percentage of total traffic. They are heavy and large granted, but we already have buses and many comercial vehicals anyway.
Personally I think people just love to complain about things like this…
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Ah yes, nocon, that’s the attitude that won the war…
just because people are commenting on here, does NOT mean they are not equally proactive in other ways, that’s just an assumption on your part – and we all know about those.
I believe that today and tomorrow is open day at the Airport to see the plans. If anyone is interested in learning more about this farce, go along, have a look, get the facts, then be better armed for your objections (which we are perfectly entitled to, as we are paying for this, and it potentially effects much of our island, nocon!)…
by the way, using your logic, there’s little point in you telling people off on here either, is there…?
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Jon:
Why would up-grading the runway, improving the drainage and lighting, and if you want, increasing the run-off safety areas within the current airport boundary, all of which would make a safe airport even safer, threaten the local flying industry? Why on earth do you think the future of that industry is dependent on this huge project and moving the whole runway westward? I think that someone has been applying scare tactics for you to be thinking that.
Jas: I am amazed that you can be so flippant about a spending spree that will run into tens of millions more than is absolutely necessary.
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I’ve read that the times won’t clash with school opening/closing. But what about the workers rush hour? Will we be given the same courtesy since we are the ones paying for all of this? Or is it a case once again of treating the tax payer with contempt?
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Just had a thought .. the only people to suffer a double whammy of lorries travelling both ways are those who live in Bulwer Avenue as far along as the Halfway
Anyone from there with any comments?
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Does anyone know the volume of traffic along L’Ancresse, Route Militaire etc. to the tip at Chouet?
I would imagine with all the skip lorries and other trucks taking rubbish to Chouet it would be comparable to the lorries that will travel along the front to the Airport.
This seems to me just another opportunity for the usual whingers on this forum to moan on about something of nothing.
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Town Dweller
Ah yes, but we’re talking about disrupting those precious people along the West Coast and what Deputy Jones calls the National Park in the high parishes
Us oop North have had decades of putting up with industrial traffic and we’ve toughened up
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i think its amusing that they are re-doing whatever they are doing to the runway. maybe while they are having great ideas, they could open the airport cafe (and i use that term as loosely as possible) when the airport opens, rather than needing a cuppa when on the red eye and being told they dont serve until 7am!! brilliant thinking, well done chaps. a pat on the back and i kick in the teeth for the one who thought of that idea
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Is this project not another Alderney Breakwater?
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Scarlet,
I did go to the airport presentation and I asked the question, “Can the route of the lorries be changed even if a better solution is found?”
The reply? :- “We have looked into all the possible methods and routes to get this aggregate from St. Sampsons to the Airport, or even another method, but came up with what we consider to be the best result.”
When pressed if the route could be changed his reply was:- “I don`t think so, it would mean going over the same ground and coming up with the same result.”
I also asked :- “How many lorries would be on the road at any one time and who would be paying for the repair to the roads, especially the junctions and tight corners where the weight of the lorries cause the tarmac to distort and ripple as it did at L`Islet X roads with Ronez trucks moving large boulders through there?”
The reply? :- “We aren`t sure yet but I`m sure that, should there be any damage to the roads, the money for repairs would be found in the states budget to cover them.”
Those guys up there were good at giving politicans answers and must have been briefed very well by Deputy Flouquet.
And so Scarlet, my first posting about It being already decided and won`t change still stands and no matter how much people complain IT WILL NOT CHANGE, and no matter how much you bleat and moan about it RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
By the way, if you read my post you will see that I`m not telling anyone off, just stating facts as I see them. This, according to your own words, is what I`m entitled to do.
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I know,
When the lorries start moving the aggregate from St Sampsons why don`t we all pack picnics and go and sit in the roads on the route to the airport.
Pick a nice day, take the kids along and they`ll have something to tell their kids about later in life, like the women of Greenham Common.
I`m sure the police would be grateful to everyone for making their day a bit more exciting.
Who knows, some of you may want to start a riot.
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