Wednesday 7 December 2016

The Chilton Interchange Pt One



In January 2014 Oxfordshire CC announced a consultation for a new Chilton interchange Link. The Government were putting up £10 million towards it and the rest met from OCC. The interchange is badly needed for the Harwell science complex as there is no exit from the south bound side or entry on the northbound side of the old interchange. As I work on the Harwell complex I thought it would be a good idea to document the progress of the build when it happens. Somehow I really did not think there will be a lot of opposition to this as it is badly needed and should relieve the traffic problems down the road at Rowstock. It was my intention to follow the progress of the work as work was due to start in 2014 but nothing happened because there had been a delay due to the local council (Chilton) objecting and saying the money could be better spent. Someone must have had a word and told them the error of their ways because the objection was withdrawn thus saving thousands of pounds more being wasted on a public enquiry.  Some work happened in December then nothing until I saw in the paper work was commencing in 2015. In the first week of April they started clearing some of the trees that are in the way, first the northbound side. Work finally commenced around August / September of 2015 finally opening on 10th November 2016. During the intervening time I documented the progress week by week, these are some of the photos I took of the progress. There is a more in depth article I wrote on Geograph
I have decided to do this blog in two parts, this one will take you to December 2015. 




These photo's are some I took before work started to show how the road and area looked before hand. Above you can see the odd looking pavement which was build a few years ago & ill thought out from a pedestrians point of view. The area on the right is where I expected to see the roundabout









The entrance the field beside road, it curves away towards the A34





The field below the road which was never used from what I can remember





Going down to the field level. When the A34 went in only two sliproads were built at Chilton but this side was left for some reason





The bank I climbed down from the road





The North bound carrageway of the A34 from the road bridge, the new sliproad will join around where the Eddie Stobart truck is



The south bound side the sliproad will start where the second truck is. The barriers you see in both photos are a tunnel under the A34 taking a bridleway




This is the Hagbourne hill road, I'm stood beside the entrance to the Manor Court office block which is up for sale





The are where the slip road will go, as you can see it looks as though it was intended to have a slip road here but never built like the other side of the A34






The trees beside the Hagbourne hill road and the roundabout should go around this area

This is a view from the present roundabout near Chilton looking up towards Hagbourne Hill.






Something happened in December 2014 on the area to the near Chilton where the sliproad will come off the A34






The ground was being scraped













Where the sliproad joining the A34 was going some one was erecting a sign




Four months later they started clearing the trees beside the A 4185 at Chilton




along the Hagbourne Hill road they cleared them all
apart from one which I thought was going to be left, it was gone when I went home





Another four months and a sign appeared along with safety fencing





a site office




and a guy marking out survey points





a small excavatire was digging as well







Things had finally started to happen







 September saw this badboy clearing the area where field started you saw in the third photo 





Nearby you could see where the excavators had cleared a large area
 














The first thing laid was an access road for the contractors to the site office














and safety fencing along the side of the road
















Further down the side you could see them clearing away the top soil















and over a weekend the site offices went in














Over on what I call the South side where the sliproad came off the road was closed so they could improve the top of Hagbourne Hill










Nearby in the field an Excavator waited






The next week they had cleared a lot of the old bank beside the road















and on site a large earth mover was seen parked up
















Down the site an excavator was clearing the shrubbery from beside the A34 and you could see the line of the sliproad appearing














The South side was the same















The Hagbourne Hill road was closed off fully by now

















Week by week you noticed changes















Though most work to start with was clearing the area
















off all the topsoil
















Then I noticed one week they were building up the level on the North Side of the A34














Tipper trucks and rollers going to working away. you could see they had dug down forming an embankment on one side, the spoil was used to build up the roundabout













On the South  side there was lots of excavation work happening
















and the huge earth movers were being filled














and I spotted where they were going along the bridleway an under the A34










Then out the other side to dump  it on the Roundabout being built

as they had a lot of building up to do on this side of the A34







The work continued and every time I came back there were changes













A road line could easily be made out now 














though the far side of the bridleway was left untouched















The area on the south side you could see a roundabout forming













work up the side continued with tons of earth being collected


and some had been used on the first roundabout being built





A few weeks after starting the site access road moved to be beside the main road













There was also more equipment being used











 




Dump Trucks came from  lower down the site near the bridleway
















and dumped it on where the road and roundabout were being built














The South side had changed from a field to a construction site















with earth movers clearing and moving material



















Which was going up the bridleway. By the roundabout a large amount of concrete had appeared from an old wall and road from The Manor Court











The work though was mostly happing near the A34















Were the earth movers cleared the site













One of the dumpers coming back empty
















Surveyors equipment and site managers













Caterpillar  moving recycled material around










Panoramic of the North side roundabout from the A34


Panoramic view of the South side roundabout






As winter came so did the rain and the site turned muddy
















None of this stopped the work going on







At  the bridleway huge amounts of earth were being moved














and on the South roundabout a new road off the roundabout was taking form
















Winter made the place look dismal










Trucks were bringing in recycled material for the hardcore road surface


The next panoramic showed the embankments taking shape






 few weeks after the site road had changed direction a new entrance was made
















nearly opposite the sliproad off the A34















If you looked down site it seemed like mayhem was going on. The second site on the South was almost as bad















The safety fence moved out
















Pegs were going in marking the road








 






But there was still a huge amount of work to do















Looking from the bridge at the North side you could now see an embankment







 






where on one side topsoil had been laid down















That told me the road hight had been reached















More pegs could be seen
















and the bridleway had been excavated out for a bridge to go over















Soil was being laid on the site office roadside as well











Looking from the bridge over the A34 you could see the huge excavation of the bridleway














On the South side two excavators lift equipment















A truck drives along the bridleway
















The drainage goes in along the side of the sliproad














While on the north side they fit manholes in place










I left with a last view of the North side before the broke up for the Christmas Holidays. It had taken around three months to build the foundations of two slip roads.
Part two will take you to the opening of the sliproads.