A YEAR of Handy Cross hell will start in just six weeks when the £12 million improvement scheme for the roundabout begins.

Delighted road bosses say the changes will dramatically improve the High Wycombe motorway junction, but added that massive queues are unavoidable and are urging drivers to be patient.

Cllr Peter Cartwright, Wycombe District Council cabinet member for transport and employment, said the jams would cause problems but the start was long over due.

"I can see considerable hold ups," he said.

"We have seen how chaotic it is when there are accidents on the motorway."

After years of plans, promises, arguments and inquiries, the date has finally been set and motorists in the High Wycombe town centre will also feel its knock-on effects.

Bucks county councillor Val Letheren, portfolio holder for transportation, said there will be "problems" and "upheaval" and the months ahead would be difficult. She said: "We have been longing for this, we are desperate to have this done.

"We cannot go through the hell of Handy Cross any longer."

An exhibition about how to avoid traffic trouble spots is now being held in High Wycombe on October 14 and 15.

Cllr Mahboob Hussain (Con, Abbey) said: "I do not think it will cause deadlock. The roads are quite good around here but it will have a knock-on effect.

"People have to be patient. There will be major traffic problems but it is necessary to take the town forward."

The Highways Agency and Edmund Nuttall, the contractors, say much of the work will be done off road or at night and at weekends and they hope frustrations will not to be too great. Work should have started in August but was delayed when Nuttall could not agree the final price with the Highways Agency.

The Handy Cross scheme, at Junction 4 of the M40, is designed to improve traffic flow though the complex junction where six lanes of local and motorway traffic meet. The changes will separate long distance traffic from local traffic.

When work is finished traffic coming north from Marlow along the A404 and wanting to get onto the M40 to go west towards Oxford, will now avoid Handy Cross and take a completely new slip road, which will leave the A404 well before the roundabout and join the M40 well to the west.

The other major change is a new road which will be built across the centre of the roundabout to separate though traffic from local traffic.

Slip roads will be widened, signing will be via overhead gantries, making it easier for drivers to see which lanes should be used, and a route will be provided for cyclists and walkers.

Work will also now include major improvements to the heavily potholed surface of the roundabout, and to waterproof the bridges.

Comment

Patience as they work to improve hell'

DRIVERS using the Handy Cross roundabout are in for a hellish year when the improvement works finally begin in November.

Certain delays, unavoidable jams and queues are set to become a part of life for road users when the works take centre stage.

But the outcome will improve the flow of traffic in and out of High Wycombe and make everyone's lives easier as they try to get to work or school.

The need for improvements must take precedence over the troubles they will cause.

Traffic management is a messy business, people want to get where they are going as quickly as possible.

That is certain but the need for patience during the works is going to be essential.

The road works will take a full year to complete.

There will be hold-ups and frustration, whether the road works are carried out late at night or not.

Let's hope the crews will be working hard to get the job done as quickly as possible, with the least amount of cones and temporary traffic lights.

This project has been years in the planning, negotiations have dragged on while the road surface has deteriorated and blockages have continued.

Handy Cross is a hell for drivers now, and it will get worse before it gets better.

The current situation is not ideal but the light at the end of the tunnel is that things will work better when the job is done.

If the planners have got it right then disruption should be minimal and the works won't hinder drivers too much in the months ahead.

When the work is over and the roads are improved, the gain will far outweigh the pain.

By Margaret Smith & Jenna Towler