Bridge to replace infamous underpass at Swindon

[whole diary]

[patch38]

From BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Wiltshire

Plans have been unveiled to replace an underpass, known as a place for muggings, with a safer footbridge.

In recent years, several violent crimes have been committed in the underpass, which links Station Road and the Oasis Leisure Centre, in Swindon.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said a bid for government cash would be needed for the ^10m project.

Last June a man was stabbed to death in the area and earlier this week a woman was sexually assaulted.

An attempted robbery and an assault on a woman also took place in the pass, which runs under the railway line, last year.
'Wider benefits'

A council spokesman said: "We want to put a pedestrian bridge across the rail line to connect North Star with the town centre but getting it built is linked to the wider regeneration of that area.

"The cost of building a bridge will be in excess of ^10m, so we will need to put in a bid to central government for the money and show the wider benefits it will bring.

"We won't get funding for that amount simply because a bridge would be safer for users than an underpass - we have to show other reasons as well."

Conservative MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North Swindon, Justin Tomlinson, said: "This should be a thing of the past.

"As part of the town centre regeneration we would be better off having a pedestrian bridge with visibility and access," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-30792901

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for posting, patch38. 

Selected from that particular BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news item:

Plans to replace Swindon 'muggings' underpass



A council spokesman said: "The cost of building a bridge will be in excess of ^10m ... We won't get funding for that amount simply because a bridge would be safer for users than an underpass - we have to show other reasons as well."

How much?? 

[LiskeardRich]

^10m for a footbridge?       

[Electric train]

Use to be the canal, my guess they want to put an over bridge in.

^10M don't get you much nowerdays

[ellendune]

It would have to have quite a long approach ramp as the railway is on an embankment. Also it would need to be quite wide to ensure it was not just as hazardous as the underpass.

[bobm]

This is the town centre end of the underpass



As has been said you would need quite a high footbridge to clear the railway - even more so with electrification in prospect.

It is part of National Cycleway 45 so I would hope cyclists would be accommodated and not faced with "Cyclists please dismount" signs.

[grahame]

What to the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust think?    This is the former North Wilts Canal and although the Wilts and Berks when re-opened will avoid the town centre by quite a way, plans I have seen bring one leg into the town and then head off up the North Wilts, under that bridge again, up to Latton / the River Thames.

I'm not an architect, and my imagination of a great monstrosity rising from the ground on both sides and then crossing above the electric wires leaves me open-mouthed in awe.  Is that really needed?  I look at the solution at the next underpass along to the west, which is patrolled.  And the next public under crossing to the east which is shared with road traffic and becomes very much too busy (as I understand it) to have the same crime problems, even if it has the extra problem of bridge strikes.