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SLHS: Proposed Upstream Bridge

A New Bridge

A century and a half after Clopton Bridge was widened, in the early 1950s, the traffic trying to cross the river and coming through the town had reached an almost intolerable level and the ancient monument was really crumbling under the strain.

Before the Hilton Hotel (now the Crowne Plazza Hotel) and the current Gyratory System at Bridgefoot were built the government’s Ministry Of Transport conceived a large bridge across the fields, a short distance upstream, ie on the Warwick side, of Clopton Bridge.

The map (right) shows the remarkable idea was to cut a completely new path for the river and fill the previous section in. This would enable a huge roundabout to be constructed around the beautiful Alveston Manor. It is inconceivable these days that anyone would even contemplate such a scheme but this shows have far the planning went. The scheme was shot down. Thank God we live in different times now !

From the painting (below) it would arrive at the southern riverbank requiring several properties to be demolished. Traffic would then be diverted in front of the Alveston Manor Hotel to join existing roads. However the map shows how little the end of the Tiddington Road was to be widened.

We are told that the Bird family, who owned the Manor, and public opinion wasn’t exactly keen.

Bridgetown

● These items have aspects that uniquely contribute to national or world history.

Painting of proposed new bridge  (held by Stratford Town Hall)

A higher resolution version of the whole drawing may be viewed online by clicking the picture

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Remodelled Traffic Scheme That Never Happened

Instead of the above scheme another town planner’s idea was to shorten the route from the Tiddington Road to the existing river crossing. The diagram (right) shows the proposal.

The scheme required significant capital cost. Obviously the traffic flow shown here is unregulated. However given so many councils‘ desire for control it was highly likely that a non-trivial traffic light scheme would have been installed adding massively to the capital cost and the always unspoken ongoing expert maintenance revenue costs.

Random Fact File

Traffic Light Facts

In 2022 33,000 traffic light systems existed in UK (cf 25,000 roundabouts. France has the most in the world at 30,000 roundabouts). The majority of traffic lights are supplied by Siemens (who bought Plessey in 1989) with others by AGD and BIC. It is said that after Central London Leicester has the highest number of traffic lights per unit area.

Capital Cost Of Traffic Lights

A simple single carriageway “Toucan” pedestrian crossing costs about £140,000 of which £50,000 is for the supply of lights and connection to mains power. A small 4-way junction starts at approx £600,000 but very easily can run to 7-figures.

Maintenance Revenue Costs

A council can expect to pay £2000-£3000/yr for a 4-way depending on bulk discount. For the year 2019-20 Bristol City Council spent £19,126,000 on traffic lights maintenance revenue after a bulk deal.

Environment

Many junctions require traffic light control because of the risks of accidents but the above is a strong case for roundabouts. This case is even stronger if the environmental impact is measured. Strong braking at traffic lights produces dust particles from the brake lining material (once asbestos but not now). However it is the revving of engines as vehicles speed away from a green light that gives rise to the most pollution. Electric and hybrid vehicles are far better in this regard.