Sitting Thinking in Traffic

Earlier I was queuing in the traffic caused by Ventura Park and had the time to think a little about the traffic I was in. I don't think I could see any commercial vans or lorries so all these cars are taking people to and from Ventura of Tamworth for either leisure or shopping, that has to be a success story for Tamworth.

The downside is the Traffic I have talked about, every weekend Ventura grind to a snails pace and for many years nothing has been done about it. This year things are going to change.

In a few weeks work will start on the two roundabouts where problems occur, this will see traffic lights installed on the roundabouts and while the works go on this is going to be hellish but once finished some benefits and improvement will be seen. The traffic will still remain at Ventura and there will still be queues BUT with traffic lights every cycle there will be gaps created in the traffic so where as now we are reliant of drivers finding gaps in the traffic gaps will be created. These Traffic lights will also monitor traffic flows and respond accordingly giving priority to the queue that need clearing quickest or is longest.
   So you will still queue but you will queue for less time.

The success of Ventura park is fantastic for the local economy but without massive investment I fear the traffic issues will never be completely removed, almost a price of success. but works can be done to help and assist the driver going through the retail park, this year new lights will be put in along with new units to towards the Bonehill road side and by the CIN building, this will improve and grow Tamworth's retail offer. Once this is done traffic studies can be done and future changes to other exits to ventura could be funded and built. I know it's a long process but each step will make an improvement.

Whilst talking about Ventura it would be wrong not to mention the town centre, this area has a different offer to ventura, smaller shops selling different products etc. i would love to see the town centre as busy as it was when I was growing up and I hope that when the Henry boot development is complete it will be. I must remind people that the council didn't own the old precinct or the land it stood on, it was privately owned.
We had some great shops in the town centre and still have some great building these need to be preserved and this will only happen if we use them, the delays in the redevelopment do frustrate me but i know it's a marathon not a sprint.

Wouldn't it be nice to have the town centre as busy as Ventura.
I think the message I am sending out here is improvements are coming, they may not be quick or provide a utopia but they will provide further improvements to or town