Keeping road traffic moving is an issue in most places, not least the centre of Stansted Mountfitchet. Two developments in the centre, near the junctions of Lower Street, Chapel Hill and Church Road, will affect both the volume of traffic and the road layout.

The junction of Chapel Hill, Church Road and Church Road, Stansted

I decided to find out on Thursday and Friday how much traffic there is. So I spent two-and-a-half hours counting cars; some 1,200 vehicles!

Two facts stand out; the busiest traffic route is between Chapel Hill and Lower Street; the least busy road is Church Road. I can’t see that there is a case for restricting traffic at the bottom of Chapel Hill to accommodate the health centre/supermarket proposal on the Hilton Cars site. 

Whilst it seems that traffic on Church Road is the lightest, I saw a bus and a lorry jammed and struggling to pass each other on the railway bridge, supporting its ‘wing mirror bridge’ nickname. This section of road must be widened if nearby developments are to attract more and larger vehicles.

As I wrote in an earlier post, the widening of Church Road on both sides of the railway bridge needs to happen – as soon as funding can be found – and developments near it must assist and not be allowed to obstruct the widening.