The Felixstowe Flyer FelixstoweFlyer_Jun2018_For_Web | Página 11

The Flyer
Coastal Conservative News
from Graham Newman, County and Town Councillor
along with one or two other recurrent
concerns, such as the puddling of the
pavement on Walton Avenue and the
poor surface of Colneis Road & High
Road East.
Recent Highways
Improvements
Since last writing on this topic,
Crescent Road and Mill Lane through
to the Garrison Lane crossroads have
been completely resurfaced, as has
a stretch of Walton Avenue between
the level crossing and the caravan
park entrances. This is part of the
Conservative County Council’s plan
to spend £20million on long-term
improvements to the County’s major
roads over the next three years. Whilst
it has not yet been possible to get
the 60metre stretch of road over the
Mill Lane railway bridge resurfaced,
I am hoping the recent change of
leadership at the County Council will
enable this decision to be reviewed,
Improvements on the A14 are not part
of the County Councils responsibilities,
as that road is deemed to be part
of the national network, and the
responsibility of Highways England.
Sadly, the recent work undertaken
between Felixstowe and the Orwell
Bridge has failed to rectify a number of
faults on the Port of Felixstowe road,
and in the area between the Trimley
St Martin on-slip and the Goslings
Farm on-slip. We continue to lobby
for the same standard of resurfacing
to be undertaken from Dock Gate 1
to Levington as has been achieved
from Levington towards Ipswich. If
and when further work is confi rmed,
we will also do whatever we can to
improve the notifi cation to those
affected by the diversions of overnight
heavy goods traffi c along Langer
Road, Garrison Lane, High Road West
and High Street through to the Trimly
villages.
Rail line improvements at
Trimley
The £60million project, part funded
by the Port of Felixstowe, to double
the section of track between Trimley
station and Grimston Lane has now
begun in earnest. By the time you
read this, a new embankment will
have been constructed either side
of the Gun Lane level crossing to
accommodate the second track. What
is not widely appreciated is that the
work will also involve almost total
resignalling between Westerfi eld and
Felixstowe, in order to create more
“block sections” for trains to occupy
and prepare for the so-called digital
railway, as well as upgrading all the
remaining level crossings in the area.
We now await the result of the public
enquiry into the closure of some of the
foot crossings, which is expected by
August this year.
When the work is completed next
year, it will not only allow the number
of container trains into the Port to
increase by almost 50%, but will
also coincide with Greater Anglia
introducing brand new three-coach
trains on the passenger service.