Ongoing issues with a pedestrian crossing over the ring road all seem to have surfaced since the subway was closed and filled in.

The need to yet again implement a new scheme could have all but been avoided if the insane decision hadn’t been taken in the first place to remove the subterranean subway some months ago.

At a time when large firms like TK Maxx are moving their central hubs to Watford and building their head offices down Clarendon Road, it was sheer short-sighted madness and folly to close the footway under the ring road.

I’m no apologist for motor vehicles - indeed the council already bends over backwards to keep the traffic moving at the expense of the pedestrian setting the wait times at pelican crossings to a maximum regardless of previous inactivity (all which do no favours to man, woman or beast) - but to cause tailbacks through alterations to sequencing to facilitate a ground level crossing when a subway crossing could have sufficed seems a step backwards.

That said, the traffic on the ring road is barely moving at the best of times, so drivers’ days sat fuming away behind the wheel shouldn’t be unduly inconvenienced by the need to stop a few extra minutes at the new crossing.

Dave Degen

Whippendell Road, Watford