Road changes are nonsensical

I know that we have been aware of potential road improvements in Maidstone for quite a while, but they are now starting to be implemented.

Those on the A229, Loose Road include changes at the junction with Armstrong Road and Park Way, which are sensible and those at the Wheatsheaf Junction, which are not.

At the Wheatsheaf Junction the access to and from Cranbourne Avenue has now been closed, at very modest cost. That takes away one phase of the 4 traffic light phases, so should improve traffic flow by a modest amount.

I am, however, in company with others, struggling to understand what the remainder of the considerable roadworks will achieve at huge cost, let alone the months of traffic disruption that they will cause.

The problem here, as it is in the rest of Maidstone, is that there are too many vehicles on the roads, particularly at rush hours and at the start and end of the school day, for the road capacity.

This will not change as a result cosmetic changes at the Wheatsheaf Junction.

Indeed it will only get worse until unrestrained building developments on the edge of Maidstone are curtailed.

As you cannot go on building roads, the only answer is better public transport so that people have a realistic alternative to car use.

Those who have studied the plans for the Wheatsheaf Junction will see that it is proposed to improve the environment and local enjoyment by pulling down the public house and creating a garden on the site.

Would anyone in their right mind wish to sit there?

Can those planning to inflict traffic chaos on the south side of the town, while roadworks take place, reconsider the negligible benefits of the Wheatsheaf scheme and leave matters as they are with no access to Cranbourne Avenue?

Surely the money could be better spent elsewhere?

David Hackett

Park Way, Maidstone