Lewy

Hi All

Tuesday evening, following another puncture and in a bit of a mood, I contacted The Herald series regarding the issues with Icknield Way, The Oxford Mail contacted me today to say they would like to run a story about the issues we’ve all been having and because of this are sending a photographer at 10:30am tomorrow morning to get some pictures for the story, I said I would meet them at the shops and then walk down to the path. I was wondering if any of my fellow cyclists who have also come a cropper in ‘Puncture Alley’ would also like to get in on the photo? If so, see you their just after 10:30am.

Well, there you have it folks, apparently the remedial work has been completed and the signs have been left in place in error, keep bombarding the OCC with complaints if you keep getting punctures, see OCC latest below:

Dear Mr Lewis

Thank you for your email, please accept my apologies for the delay in updating you.

I can confirm that remedial works to rectify the problems we’ve experienced with Icknield Way (west of the Harwell Campus) were carried out and completed on Tuesday 19 January. The surface of the path was rolled a number of times in order to break-down the larger sized stones and round-off any sharp edges. The temporary signs erected on site should have been removed, and I will chase our contractor to get this done. We are proposing to monitor the route for 4 weeks to assess how affective the remedial works have been. Should we still be experiencing issues with the surface treatment at the end of this period, we will request further proposals from our sub-contractor to rectify the surface. We will be monitoring customer feedback regrading punctures during this period.

Thank you again for your continued cooperation.

Elio

Hi All, latest from OCC below, I guess we monitor frequency of punctures following remedial action then go from there:

Hello Mr Lewis

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this.

We’ve been reviewing our contractor’s proposals for remedial action to the treated section of Icknield Way.

We have agreed that our contractor will be return to site on Tuesday, 19 January to carry out rolling and sweeping of the surface dressing stone. Our contractor will be using a twin steel drum roller to break-down the larger stones and remove any sharp edges that may still present. Extensive sweeping will then be carried out to remove any remaining loose stones and debris from the surface of the track. The rolling action will also assist with pushing the stone deeper into the asphalt layer beneath it. We will monitor the results as the remedial work is carried out and review the feedback from users. However, should the quality of the surface continue to be an issue, we will re-visit remedial options with our subcontractor to determine the next course of action.

Surface dressing has been successfully used on other cycle tracks in the county and it is disappointing that this particular application has suffered from problems which could have been easily avoided. We are currently investigating possible surface treatment options for the Winnaway Footpath, one of which is surface dressing, taking into account the lessons learned on Icknield Way. We understand your concern at the suggestion of possibly using a surface dressing treatment again.

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

Elio

Elio Astone | Principal Engineer | Highways & Transport | Oxfordshire County Council |
Telephone 01865 815258 |
Speedwell House | Speedwell Street | Oxford | OX1 1NE
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk