Taken from Wokingham News Centre.
Construction has begun to increase capacity at Winnersh Triangle Park and Ride. Wokingham Borough Council is building better sustainable transport infrastructure, with £6.8million being invested in the expansion of the facility.
Capacity of the car park will be reduced during the construction period, with about 100 spaces available throughout. Once complete the number of spaces at the car park will increase by more than 100, so that 491 spaces will be available. It is already served by a route into Reading town centre by Reading Buses and the nearby South Western Railway train line.
As well as additional capacity we are creating a new natural open space, feature lighting, covered pedestrian waiting area and a new paved pedestrian link between the railway station and the car park. This will improve the look and feel of the area around the station.
The project is being supported with significant funding from the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Local Growth Fund from the Government and Frasers Property, which owns Winnersh Triangle Business Park. It’s hoped the expansion will cut the number of cars travelling into Reading and people will make use of the cheaper park and ride instead.
“These works will both improve the visual appeal of the area and provide additional capacity to allow even more residents to make use of the nearby transport links available,” said Andy Glencross, assistant director for highways. “Vehicle emissions remains one of the largest contributors to our borough’s carbon footprint. Providing attractive and easy to access public transport services into nearby towns like Reading will help us reduce this.”
Bob Mountain, vice chair of the Berkshire Local Transport Body and board director at Thames Valley Berkshire LEP said, “The scheme at Winnersh Triangle aligns well with local, LEP, and national strategic priorities to encourage sustainable travel, reduce congestion, and support growth.
“By tackling the constraints at the existing Winnersh Triangle Park and Ride site we will see an improvement in the quality of the travel experience for passengers as well as encouraging higher overall rail patronage.”
A fourth arm will be added to the Wharfedale Road/A329M slip road roundabout, with traffic lights reconfigured to accommodate this. This work will be completed away from existing traffic, with minimal disruption to surrounding roads.
The structure for the new decking is being built by Bourne Steel, with the civil engineering work required being undertaken by Dyer & Butler. Work is estimated to be complete by spring 2022. During construction, trains and buses will continue to run from the site.
The project helps the council towards the goal of making Wokingham Borough carbon neutral by 2030, with better sustainable transport infrastructure helping to cut carbon dioxide emissions from transport.
Extra cycle parking is also being added to the site, while 35 electric vehicle charging spaces will be built as part of the expansion. The current park and ride, which has almost 400 spaces, was opened in 2015 and replaced the old Loddon Bridge park and ride, which was prone to flooding.
