A Smarter M4 – Proposed changes for Berkshire Section

Announced on the 13th march 2014, details of the Highways Agency proposals to convert the 32 miles of the M4 between junction 3 and 12 (Heathrow to Tilehurst) into a ‘smart motorway’ with work starting in 2016 and completing by 2022 include:

• 64 miles (32 each side) of new traffic lane taken from the existing hard shoulder, increasing capacity
• The erection of 131 new gantries
• 11 bridges to be rebuilt to provide space for the additional traffic lane
• 32 refuge bays are proposed alongside the carriageway for use by drivers in an emergency.
• More details of the work and the background for the changes can be found here.

As part of the Highways Agency ‘promotion’ of their plans, they are running a series of road exhibitions, the first two having been held already (very quickly arranged with little notice in the media, I wonder why?)and final one being on the 29th March.

See list below for location and links to Google Maps.

• Tuesday 18 March between 2pm and 8pm – St Giles Hotel, Hounslow Road, Feltham, TW14 9AD.
• Wednesday 19 March between 2pm and 8pm – Hillingdon Baptist Church, 25 Hercies Road, Uxbridge UB10 9LS.
• Friday 21 March between 2pm and 8pm – Theale Village Hall, Englefield Road, Reading, RG7 5AS.
• Saturday 22 March between 10am and 4pm – Holyport War Memorial Hall, Moneyrow Green, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2NA.
• Thursday 27 March between 2pm and 8pm – Copthorne Hotel Slough, Cippenham Lane, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 2YE.
• Friday 28 March between 3pm and 8pm – Winnersh Community Centre, New Road, Wokingham RG41 5DU.
• Saturday 29 March between 10am and 4pm – St Martin’s Church Hall, Church Road, West Drayton UB7 7PT.

There’s not much time to get to these exhibitions and put your views about the proposed changes, which do still need approved planning permission, However, if any of you remember what it was like when they resurface the whole of the M4 some twenty plus years ago, it looks like we could be in for over 5 years of serious traffic disruption on the M4 from 2016.