Evening everyone,
So here we are literally moments away from the grand opening
I will be sat by the pool crying!
I need someone on Miss James bridge and someone Hazel grove bridge taking plenty of photo's. Who's up for the challenge!
The person that sends me the best photo on the day will win a chocolate bar - wow I here you say!
So come on folks lets make this one of the best days Hindhead has ever seen!
keep on diggin.........
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26 comments:
gummy when are you back from your hols so we can meet and wander up to what will be the quiet punchbowl inn for a pint and a natter about the wondrous tunnel are we very sad?? we can compare photos!!!
haha Brian sounds like a plan to me mate.
I'm back late on the 6th so sunday the 7th is best for me mate
got to work sunday morn but can make sunday 7th at 3pm so will cycle up to miss james footbridge and we can take it from there all welcomewe can toast the great job that gummy has done.
awesome mate nice one
I'd like to join you if I can.
Here's a question I've not seen the answer to ... how much nearer is London going to be for people living south of Hindhead? It's just under 4.1 miles on the old road from under Thursley bridge to level with Hazel Grove bridge. I'm guessing London will be about 0.1miles nearer - just onder 4.0 miles from Thursley bridge to Hazel Grove bridge. Any advance? (Get a passenger to do the measuring).
at a guess I would say that it would be about 0.4 miles closer
I like the way Google maps still shows nothing of the tunnel. Someone save it for posterity!
it will be on there once there googel earth car can drive through it.
I called them yesterday and spoke to them about it
I'm a photographer, so of course I'm up for the challenge! I had planned to be there anyway to get plenty of photos/video.
All of you can't wait for the tunnel to open and I suppose I am excited too having driven past the works most days since it started. But bear a thought for those whose journey times will be longer! I live in Godalming and work in Grayshott. Traffic is always going in the opposite direction to and from Guildford. When the tunnel opens I will have to drive past Grayshott through the tunnel and then turn back on myself. By the way TomTom thinks the tunnel is already open if you have upto date maps!!
Don't want to throw cold water... I suspect that there'll be lane restrictions at the northern end for some time to come as the only way in and out of the main construction "camp" to where the old A3 is being covered over is straight across the southbound carriageway, then north to Thursley. So the southbound delays may get worse as more traffic heads down the A3 into a single lane. Hope I'm wrong!
MartinGB I don't think the extra third of a mile is going to extend your journey time over the present unless you crawl through the tunnel at 30mph.
I just posted this on the other thread, but post it here as well as it looks like the threads are being used concurrently ...
Apologies if anyone else has already posted this, but here is a drive through the tunnel on the BBC website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14293147
I think anonymous is probably wrong - the construction camp on the southbound side of the road should be accessible, with a very little work perhaps, by taking the Thursley/Boundless link road as far as the Greensand underpass, going under and up towards Bedford Farm. The link road which has until now been a works-access-only road will open to all traffic to connect with Boundless road where it currently meets the old A3, and the old road past there up towards the Punchbowl will be closed to all motor traffic except as a private means of access to residents of the hostel and neighbouring houses in the Punchbowl. Presumably works traffic engaged in removing the old road or carting in the soil to bury it will access that way, or from the south through Hindhead village, at least whil the works are underway.
What is not clear to me however is how cyclists, walkers, horse riders will be able to use those parts of the old A3 which are to remain, while works continue for the next six months or so. Will they be close completely, for health & safety, or will they, like most public roads, leave one side open while they work on the other?
Cyclists etc will use the upgraded BOAT 500 which runs parallel to and above the existing road.
Access to and exit from the construction camp will be onto the southbound carriageway only not across it as has been up until now; the central reservation crash barrier in front of the camp exit is already under construction.
It will be interesting to see what route is used to get the vast heap of earth from south of the 'camp' up to the works to cover the old A3. If the trucks can only go south onto the new road, they will all have to go through the tunnel and then back up the old road...
Nutcombe has missed the point - BOAT 500 currently joins, and in future will join, what is left of the old A3 close to the turn down to the youth hostel. Between there and Hindhead the road will vanish under a million tonnes of soil. Between there and the poiint at which Boundless Road meets the old A3, it will be retained but reduced in width to around 3-4m, about half its current width. While this stretch is being split in two, what will happen? Will the side which is due to remain stay open, or will the whole road have to close so that contractos can work undisturbed? If the latter, how will residents of the few houses adjacent to the YHA enter and exit the area?
On the tipper truck access, I would have thought they could come down via the Thursley interchange and up the new access road which is intended ultimately to become part of the Boundless Thursley link, and from the Boundless junction on up onto the "private means of access" road/bridleway.
They won't be using lorries to move the spoil. The conveyor system which was used during the excavation of the tunnel will be used to transport the soil to the old A3. You may remember seeing this stored in the middle of the A3 until a few months ago; it was moved into the BB HQ site once the majority of the workforce had moved on.
Hi Paul M
No, I haven't missed the point, BOAT 500 crosses the old A3 and carries on down to Highfield Lane in Thursley, a perfectly acceptable route for all but the most fragile of racing bikes. Admittedly the issue of access for the few habitable properties in the Punchbowl is a bit more problematic, but I'm sure access will be maintained... under escort if necessary.
If they're going to use the conveyor, how will it cross the new dual carriageway? The spoil heap is east of road by the compound and the old A3 is west of the new road. Short of putting a temporary bridge over the road I can't see how that's possible! But on the other hand, the route for trucks isn't really obvious either...
Quote from an email sent to me on July 5 2010 by Balfour Beatty:
'We intend using the conveyor system which we used to excavate the tunnel to transport the spoil from our storage on site to cover the old A3 once the new road has been opened'.
Looking fwd to taking the Range Rover up there when they form a circular route by joining the 2 BOATs up with a short link.... Hopefully they will also re-open Gibbett Hill BOAT so we can drive from Haslemere, up past the Royal School and down Gibbett...
BOATS were never intended for 4wd, using them for this purpose is very destructive; please desist.
well my two attempts to drive through the tunnel northbound has met with two broken down lorries in tunnel, and the old A3 is as busy as ever........
I'm sorry Nitcombe, but have you ever ridden a bike? There is no way in a million years that the lower section of BOAT 500, from the old A3 down to Thursley, is rideable on "all but the most fragile of racing bikes". I would strongly recommend that no-one attempts this unless they have at least front suspension, preferably rear as well, and disc brakes all round. They should have fat MTB tyres too - the types of tyres used on racing bikes or even ordinary road bikes would be shredded, and the wheel rims wrecked.
Where I do agree though is that 4x4s should stay away from the BOATs, especially the Farnham Lane - High Button route, which has been totally wrecked and is unusable for just about everyone else now. The section descending to High Button from close to the monument is supposed to be close off for six months, presumably to be given a chance to recover, but I have noted that the gate at the top has been rammed open and badly damaged, and trail bikes and quads scream up and down there most weekends. This selfish behavious just runis it for everyone else.
Hi Paul M
Yes I have ridden a bike but my days for doing that are now passed due to advancing years, so I'll take your word for the condition of the lower section of BOAT 500, though having walked it I must say it doesn't look too good, not brilliant for equestrians either.
Part of the tunnel scheme was to provide an overland route suitable for cyclists. I attended most days of the public inquiry and many hours were spent addressing this, with assurances from the HA that cyclists would be properly catered for in line with government policy. If you believe this is not so then I suggest you make representation to the HA reminding them of their duty to provide a fully useable cycle route, preferably with a ban on 4x4's so that it does not get ruined.
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