Do you use the “rat run” in Bengeo - Hertford? Nightmare isn’t it? We’ve all used it and we all hate using it, it’s busy, you can get stuck, you can get your beloved car scraped. But for many it’s their route to work, possibly route for the school run. It forms an important part of their day, so when plans were raised for the rat run to be closed during rush hour, residents and users of the route were concerned. There has been a long term campaign for a number of years from residents of the series of streets to relieve pressure on the route, but an immediate closure would have a devastating effect on most people’s day.
So many will surely be glad to know that the plans to close the Byde Street part of the rat run have been put on hold until the Sainsbury’s store is built in Hertford. Plans have now been drawn up to assess the traffic at Old Cross 3 months before and 3 months after the opening of the shop. If traffic is significantly more after opening then the rat run will remain unaffected. But if traffic is unaffected then councillors could either put in place closure of Byde Street during rush hour, or start using number plate recognition technology which will register users using the route when they shouldn’t be.
Either way we can breathe easy for now when using the route, but it’s clear that action does need to be taken soon as congestion is reaching new highs and the streets aren’t getting any wider!
