04 Jul 2024
Highways bosses at County Hall have done nothing to tackle dangerously worn road markings at London Colney roundabout almost a year after they were first reported.
Local resident Gary Broadbent told HCC on August 2 2023: “The lane markings lines on the London Colney Roundabout have been almost invisible for a long time. It’s an unusual lane layout and without clear lane markings, many who are unfamiliar with it stray across the lanes, particularly when coming from the Hatfield direction and heading round the roundabout towards Park Street.
“I’ve seen several accidents there, and almost been hit several times by drivers who obviously don’t know the layout and can’t see it because the lines are almost non-existent. It’s one of the most dangerous bits of road in the area, and fixing it would be relatively cheap (just repaint the lines), but there seems to be no action. It’s going to get much busier soon once construction of the rail freight terminal gets underway.”
Work has now commenced on the rail freight terminal, and yet still Highways have not tackled Gary’s concerns.
A ‘customer interaction officer’ told him this week: “I can confirm that London Colney Roundabout was identified last year as a hazardous site however, we did not investigate further due to changes to the A414 corridor as part of the Radlett freight interchange development.
“I am told that the improvements will include road marking changes and resurfacing works which will hopefully help alleviate issues.
“We hope that the works will be undertaken towards the end part of 2025.
“Regarding your comments about the cost of repainting the lines, we must also take into consideration the cost in closing off the road to carry out the remarking safely. The cost of traffic management, where we must reduce all entries onto the roundabout down to one lane, and various lane switches to address the lining on both lanes of the roundabout comes at a huge cost.
“I have been advised that if any works are being undertaken in this location, that require a road closure, we will do our best to raise works to remark the roundabout in order to maximise the closure, reduce disruption and help with cost.”
Gary responded: “I am aware of the roundabout upgrades as part of the RFI… The road markings on the roundabout were worn out long before I reported them, and well before HCC sold the land to SEGRO for the RFI, but even then, they did nothing. I have been mentioning this lack of action on HCC/Herts Highways social media posts for several years.
“Saying that we will have to wait another year and a half for work to start is ridiculous. There are virtually no road markings left now. How bad will they be in 18 months’ time? And that assumes that work there actually starts on schedule.
“Most of the other work is well behind schedule, and SEGRO will prioritise work that gets the RFI up and running, not ancillary works that don’t really benefit them.
“In addition, much of the construction traffic to build the RFI will use that roundabout. This will be heavily-laden HGVs with drivers who probably don’t know the area. This is a recipe for even more crashes, possibly more serious.
“I have witnessed several myself, and I’m not even a regular user. For HCC to say that they will do nothing at this stage is irresponsible and dangerous.”
