Sir – On reading about the cut-price plans for Frideswide Square I could not help but reflect on the several catastrophic decisions made over the years on road surfaces in Oxford: l 1970s pedestrianised slabs in Queen Street that cracked under the buses. When asked, the installers declared that they had not been told that buses would be running over them!
l Cornmarket, the granite blocks fiasco where the blocks cracked due to an unstable substratum.
l Frideswide cycle/bus lanes with the granite cobbles that were more prominent than anticipated, generating the sensation of sitting on a ‘jack-hammer’ as vehicles travelled over. Grinding them down was too expensive so yet again rip them up and replace.
So how much will the cut-price Frideswide cost once they have replaced the ill-conceived surfaces?
Presumably the square will also prioritise motors first, cycles second and pedestrians third. So we can look forward to intermittent cycle lanes frequently featuring vertical steel posts supporting signs to inform confused motorists of the ‘magic’ roundabouts and pelican crossings carefully situated on blind corners with crossing times set to nanoseconds. Perhaps some thought could be put into this one to save overrun costs and prioritise those on foot and bicycle!
Robert Mitchell, Oxford
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