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Traffic and Travel

Wokingham Borough Connect

Pedal power wins prizes at Bikeathon

More than 500 cyclists took part in this year’s Wokingham Bikeathon on 26 June, a fun annual challenge organised by a committee of volunteers with support from our My Journey Wokingham active travel team. A total of 561 people rode a course of either 15, 25 or 35 miles depending on their experience and ability, all starting and finishing on the event field at Cantley Park in Wokingham town.

Every child who took part was presented with a free medal, which was made from biodegradable materials and filled with seeds so it could be broken up and the contents planted. These were also awarded to adults for a small fee to avoid unnecessary wastage.

My Journey Wokingham showed off their “smoothie bike” – a fun contraption that allows riders to make a delicious fruity drink using pedal power. This was recently named Pedalicious following a competition among residents.

They also gave away prizes including gift vouchers, cycle caps, bike repair tools and other goodies for entrants who logged their ride on the free Innovation Valley Rewards active travel tracker app, which is offering prizes in partnership with My Journey Wokingham until October 31.

We support events like this because we’re keen to get people walking and cycling as much as possible as part of our commitment to improve air pollution, to which vehicle use is a major contributor, tackle the climate emergency, address inequality and help people live more healthily.

Kick-Off Summer!

To celebrate the Women's Euros, Innovation Valley have a new challenge and series of medals to earn.

Innovation Valley offers rewards to people for ditching the car and using active travel or public transport. Kick-Off Summer, which launched yesterday (6 July), will offer chances to boost rewards and win prizes.

How it works

• Download the Innovation Valley app
• Set up your profile
• Make sure tracking is on as you travel
• Earn ValleyCoins and ValleyTickets which can be converted into vouchers for high street shops or donated to charity
• Automatically be entered into prize draws

Kick-Off Summer

Every day, 11 winners will be drawn in the 'Player of the Day' prize draw, giving them an additional 1,100 points.

Law Seven of the Laws of the Game says that each half must run for 45 minutes:

• The first half bonus reward will earn you a 450 ValleyCoin bonus for each day you achieve 45 minutes of active travel
• The second half stretch is for those who manage to earn the first half bonus four days in the week - you'll earn an extra 450 ValleyCoins.
• The end of tournemant prize draw will see 16 prizes given away:
  • 1x £100 Virgin Experience Days voucher
  • Two lots of 50,000 ValleyCoins
  • Four lots of 25,000 VallyCoins
  • Nine lots of 10,000 ValleyCoins

Wokingham Borough residents

Residents of the borough can also earn additional coins and tickets between now and 31 October.

There's lots of reasons to take part and get active this summer, so download the app today!

Arborfield Village improvements to start next week

At the beginning of June, we told you that the final part of our Observer Way project was due to start on 28 June. The start dates were pushed back and the programme adjusted, so that the majority of works would take place over the school holidays, therefore causing less disruption.

The works will now begin on Monday (11 July), improving roads around Arborfield village and Arborfield Cross, with traffic calming measures and new planting.

Key dates

The following roads will be closed for works to be carried out:

Eversley Road (School Road to Langley Common Road) - 11 to 22 July

School Road (Sindlesham Road to Barkham Road) - 25 July to 19 August

Church Lane (Sindlesham Road to Reading Road) - 22 to 23 August

Mole Road (Sindlesham Road to Corpse Barnhill Lane) - 24 to 25 August

Reading Road (Observer Way to Eversley Road) - 26 to 31 August

Do you feel StreetSafe?

Everyone has the right to feel safe when out and about in the borough, but we know that this doesn't always happen.

Thames Valley Police continue with their pilot service StreetSafe, allowing people to make an anonymous report online.

To make a report, visit the StreetSafe page on the Thames Valley Police website and fill in a short form. 

The data will be made available to Police and Crime Commissioners and local policing teams to share with local authorities and other stakeholders, giving a better understanding of the local area and tell them about community safety activities.

Environmental issues that can be be reported including absence of CCTV, poor street layout, bad lighting and abandoned cars, graffitti and fly tipping. You can also report when you are verbally harassed, like being shouted at, and feeling like you are being followed.

StreetSafe is not a way of reporting a crime, so if you feel in immediate danger please dial 101 or 999.

You can also report some issues directly to us online, including issues with street lights, abandoned vehicles and footpaths, for us to investigate and fix.

M4 smart motorway update

Phased opening between junctions 3 and 8/9 began on 6 July, and all cones will be collected by 6am on 16 July.

Once all lanes are open, the motorway speed limit will be increased to 60mph and the newly-installed technology will be calibrated.

All motorways, with or without a hard shoulder, are designed and operated with drivers centrally in mind, to be easy and straightforward to drive on. The technology currently used on smart motorways include:

• Variable speed limits to help keep traffic moving, reducing frustrating stop-start traffic and making journeys quicker 
• Clearly signed and orange-coloured emergency areas set back from the road and with telephones linking directly to National Highways control rooms 
• Detection systems to monitor traffic for changes in flows 
• Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) technology which can identify a stationary vehicle, typically within 20 seconds
• CCTV cameras that operators are able to move and zoom to monitor and manage congestion and incidents, where notified. The system has the ability to see 100% of the carriageway signs and signals to provide information to drivers which can alert them to hazards ahead
• Red X signals to close lanes to other traffic when a stopped vehicle is identified 
• Enforcement cameras to deter the minority who break speed limits and ignore red X signals 

The newly opened section will include 16 new emergency areas, bringing the total of emergency areas on the M4 between junctions 3 and 12 to 34, with a place to stop in an emergency every 1.3 miles on average.

Once the system is performing to an acceptable level at 60mph the maximum speed will be increased to the national speed limit.

If you’d like to know more about the main features of smart motorways, and advice and guidance on safer driving and what to do in an emergency, visit National Highways new ‘Driving on motorways’ hub.

Upcoming roadworks

Keeping up to date

• For planned and emergency roadworks, follow our Twitter and Facebook pages 
• To find out about roadworks near you, visit One.network
• For active and sustainable travel, including events, training and resources, visit MyJourney Wokingham 
• Visit our major new roads page for plans and updates
• For information on re-surfacing and reactive carriageway repairs visit our pothole and road repairs page 
• You can report any issues with roads and streets online, including street lights, problems with traffic lights, potholes, damaged street furniture, problems with road markings and removal of dead animals. 
• On our parking and permits page, you can find information including car parks and costs around the borough, resident parking permits, park and ride services and appealing a parking fine.
• Our transport and travel page includes information on applying for a senior citizen or disabled person's bus and train pass and local public transport information.
• The blue parking badges page has information on applying for, using, replacing and returning your blue badge.