End of overnight closures as main road resurfaced

A MAIN road in Henley described as being in a “shocking” state by a town councillor has been resurfaced.

Reading Road has been repaired from the Tesco supermarket roundabout to the Three Horseshoes pub, while the white lines have been repainted and the drains cleaned.

Contractors for Oxfordshire County Council carried out the work overnight from Monday to Friday last week.

County councillors Stefan Gawrysiak, who represents Henley and Rotherfield Greys, and Leigh Rawlins, who represents Sonning Common and Henley South, said the repairs are “fantastic”.

The pair worked together to bring about the resurfacing and delivered leaflets to houses in the area to ask them to move their cars to facilitate the works.

Cllr Gawrysiak, who is also a town councillor, said: “It’s fantastic news that the Reading Road is being refurbished properly. It has been shocking for about two-and-a-half years and I have been trying to get it repaired. We would also like to thank the residents of Reading Road who moved their cars from the parking areas voluntarily.”

Cllr Rawlins said: “In the past, partly because of government cutbacks and partly because of contractual issues, the roads have been allowed to fall into a state that none of us would wish to see. Now there’s a programme to try and recover that.”

Cllr Rawlins added: “This is a full-on resurfacing. It’s planing off the old road and then re-making it from scratch. This is a very thorough job.”

Cllr Rawlins said potholes can be particularly dangerous for cyclists and motorcyclists, who risk being thrown off their bike.

The road surface running from the traffic lights in Station Road to the Starbucks coffee shop in Duke Street is due to be repaired in October when the Marlow Road roundabout is also due to be refurbished.