After months of resident fury, blighted businesses and commuting chaos, it is good to see St Cross Bridge nearing full completion with the bridge and road now up and running again following subsequent Network Rail work.

I have maintained a keen-eye on the roadwork developments over the course of 2010, and although Network Rail claim their importance and necessity, it has been members of the local Winchester community whom have been left to ‘just grin and bear’ the inevitable backlash of inconvenience hoisted upon their livelihoods.

St Cross Bridge, positioned on one of the busiest commuter roads into Winchester has had its new structure built to allow modern freight containers to rattle through it. This brings to an end three turbulent months where businesses located along St Cross Road like ‘The Bell Inn’ pub and the local Fish and Chip shop ‘The Frying Fish’ at some stage or another have lost up to 50% of their passing trade.

One’s down, but there are two more bridges left to be operated on in the ‘Network Rail Trilogy’. They derive in the form of Andover Road Bridge and Stoke Charity Bridge in Kings Worthy. The former, situated on the B3420 Andover Road, due to close on April 12th, will not just affect commuters and local businesses.

Nearby Peter Symonds College during the construction will be heading into peak exam season and with the closure, it begs the question of how are students and teachers alike going to be able to get to college, in turn with being on time?

It appears to me, there has been a complete lack of common sense from Network Rail. Surely, the work could have been delayed an extra month or so, resisting disruption, because Peter Symonds students will then be dwindling into the holiday season.

No timing is ever convenient or suitable for everyone though, and this is a fundamental point, but my view is that the people directly affected at the three separate locations across the Winchester area should have been briefed more stringently, with more meetings, more alternate offerings of travel mapped out, with finally the advertisement of the works being publicised on a wider platform. Thus, benefitting local residents, potential customers, commuters, students and the city as a whole giving Wintorian’s a chance to familiarize themselves with the components of the closures.

A short sighted demographic by the Rail Company in not putting the needs of the people based at the heart of the works first is the biggest talking point that needed addressing.

I attended the Stoke Charity Bridge meeting at Kings Worthy Sports and Social Club, a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say Network Rail laid down the law very astutely in the way questions and complaints were dealt with, in turn with their future diagnosis for Winchester. In a positive gathering, Network Rail did not undermine the problems some local’s and businesses have nor did Network Rail dismiss any negativity towards the bridge repairs.

Nevertheless, it’s a dilemma which could have been reduced if publicly everyone was made aware of every notion about the roadwork’s, giving people and businesses especially, time to prepare a contingency plan to combat a loss in revenue.

In the months ahead, just maybe, this whole saga will hit the headlines again, it’s a case of watching this space...