Parkway Bridge to close from March 7th - Northbrook Street to open to traffic at 5.00pm instead of 6.00pm

Peak hour traffic wanting to exit Newbury through the town centre in the evenings, will soon be able to do so an hour earlier.

An agreed new traffic system, due to come into effect when the Parkway development opens in October, includes changing the end time of the town’s pedestrian zone from 6pm to 5pm to improve rush-hour traffic flows. Now, it has been agreed to bring forward that change to next month.

The reason behind the move is the announcement by Standard Life Investments – the developers of Parkway – that Park Way bridge will be closed to all traffic from 7 March.  Currently, all southbound traffic can use the bridge. From October, the single-lane bridge will be available to buses, taxis and cycles only in both directions under traffic signal control.

Importantly, Park Way itself will remain open at all times with full access for vehicles using the Camp Hopson car park, businesses in Park Way, and for deliveries by service vehicles.

The improvement works to the paving being carried out by West Berkshire Council will be completed by 7 March, and the pedestrian zone returned to normal operation then.

West Berkshire Executive Councillor, Pamela Bale, said: “As it has become necessary to close Park Way bridge, we are bringing forward the change in pedestrian zone times to help compensate. To comply with traffic legislation, 17 March is the earliest we can do this.

“Come October, car drivers would no longer be able to use the bridge anyway, so for them this is simply bringing forward an agreed change with the benefit of being able to use Northbrook Street from 5pm.”

Just to clarify this posting...

The closure of Park Way Bridge will commence from March 7th
The change to the pedestrianised zone will not take effect until March !7th (10 days later).

How much did it cost us to replace the American Bridge?

Just to let a few buses and taxis usei it. What a waste of money!

Nothing is logical about Newbury anymore.

Quoted from Archie

Nothing is logical about Newbury anymore.

Beam me up Scotty !

Why has it 'become necessary' to close the bridge?

I would imagine it is to stop the blight of traffic queues.

Quoted from blackdog

Why has it 'become necessary' to close the bridge?

This is to enable Costain to complete all of the roadworks and pavement creation alongside the new shopping precinct in Park Way. Also to allow West Berks to install a permanent set of traffic lights and ANPR cameras in time for the grand opening of Parkway in the Autumn, when the bridge will be reopened with traffic light controlled two-way traffic for buses, taxis, Royal Mail vans, emergency vehicles and bicycles.

Ordinary south bound traffic will never again be allowed to traverse Park Way bridge. When you leave the underground car park at Park Way, you will be directed out onto London Road.

I think there should be a new campaign started for a "north Newbury bypass".  Not roads this time.... but the RIVER (and Canal)  Re-direct this thing that splits the town in two...  Retain a meagre flow as a decorative water feature maybe, but give us something that can be easily overbridged..  It's hardly the mighty Amazon, but this little brook is going to become a serious obstacle to movement around the town once the only crossing for mere mortals becomes the A339 (or a massive detour to Hambridge Road - those extra miles will cost big in the fuel tank in no time at all)

Where are our engineers with vision...? What happened to the offspring of John Rennie? Issy Kingdom Brunel?  Have their genetic offspring gone into childcare or social work rather than engineering and expanding on the head start they had on the rest of mankind?  They can't ALL work for the Council surely...  

It can't beyond the wit of Man to come up with a cheap solution to transportation around a little town like Newbury.  One that doesn't involve cutting of supply  

Quoted from spartacus

I think there should be a new campaign started for a "north Newbury bypass".  Not roads this time.... but the RIVER (and Canal)  Re-direct this thing that splits the town in two...  Retain a meagre flow as a decorative water feature maybe, but give us something that can be easily overbridged..  It's hardly the mighty Amazon, but this little brook is going to become a serious obstacle to movement around the town once the only crossing for mere mortals becomes the A339 (or a massive detour to Hambridge Road - those extra miles will cost big in the fuel tank in no time at all)

Where are our engineers with vision...? What happened to the offspring of John Rennie? Issy Kingdom Brunel?  Have their genetic offspring gone into childcare or social work rather than engineering and expanding on the head start they had on the rest of mankind?  They can't ALL work for the Council surely...  

It can't beyond the wit of Man to come up with a cheap solution to transportation around a little town like Newbury.  One that doesn't involve cutting of supply  

OMG Don't even go there !!!!!

I find it a more than a little irritating that SLI have announced the closure of the Parkway bridge. It doesn't belong to them, neither does the road that leads from the London Road up to that bridge. They should be firmly told by WBC that the closure is not convenient until the 17th March. But then the council wouldn't want to upset them as so we had better do as they (SLI) instruct us. Reminds me of the cinema road closures for months on end.

At least we will have new  bollard type threads on here telling us that people who drive over should go to specsavers, have their licences removed and warn us about the people they could have driven over because they missed the signs.

It should be entertaining watching vehicles attempting to do a 180 degree turn around the mouth of the Camp Hopson car park. Talking of which, it's a long drive for Camp Hopson's customers coming from the south to get into and out of their car park.

Perhaps Camps could take over part of the car park by the library for their southern Newbury customers... Have some sort of trolley service going over Parkway Bridge delivering shopping to car boots (although the bridge will just be buses taxis and cyclists.... no mention of trolleys permitted...  hmmm... problem)

Quoted from spartacus

Perhaps Camps could take over part of the car park by the library for their southern Newbury customers... Have some sort of trolley service going over Parkway Bridge delivering shopping to car boots (although the bridge will just be buses taxis and cyclists.... no mention of trolleys permitted...  hmmm... problem)

That's assuming Camps are still open then? Providing they can compete with the new John Lewis?  

Quoted from Archie

How much did it cost us to replace the American Bridge?

Just to let a few buses and taxis usei it. What a waste of money!

Nothing is logical about Newbury anymore.

When the new bridge was being mooted wasn't the question raised regarding making it large enough to take two lanes of traffic?
If I remember correctly it was stated there would never be a need for this with the changes to Newbury that were proposed?

With all the new house development being planned I dread to think what the A339 will be like at peak times with the American bridge closed?

Just never seem to plan far enough ahead do they?  

Quoted from Cognosco

With all the new house development being planned I dread to think what the A339 will be like at peak times with the American bridge closed?

I don't suppose it will be much different - at peak times the Park Way bridge is more of a car park than a crossing - from 5-6pm the Northbrook St route will take far more traffic away from the A339 than the Park Way/Wharf Road route does at present.

Still can't get my mind around a developer making the annoncement that the Parkway bridge, a public road and in fact a southerly through road, is closed to traffic.

The reason behind the move is the announcement by Standard Life Investments – the developers of Parkway – that Park Way bridge will be closed to all traffic from 7 March.  Currently, all southbound traffic can use the bridge. From October, the single-lane bridge will be available to buses, taxis and cycles only in both directions under traffic signal control.


Has anybody seen the closure notice in the local paper I wonder. I am more than a little p***ed off with the way we the ratepayers are treated by WBC, best website or not.

Quoted from Greenham Common

I would imagine it is to stop the blight of traffic queues.

There will be only one way to exit the new water tank (sorry underground carpark) didn't anyone at WBC realise this will meet the traffic coming from Northbrook St at going home time, often now the traffic backs up from the Robin Hood lights.