Further excavations on Hadham Road are required before a long-awaited pedestrian crossing gets the green light.
Families have been campaigning for the safety measure for three years, with hopes high that construction would begin soon.
However, this week highways authority Hertfordshire County Council has made it clear the project might never be completed.
Test excavations were carried out at the end of last year on the A1250, which is currently closed for four months between Bells Hill and Newland Avenue to enable a new gas main to be installed by Cadent Gas.
However, they failed to deliver the full picture of which utilities were under the road – and more test pits will be required “as soon as possible”.
Mum Helen Fletcher and other parents were hopeful the crossing could be installed near Maze Green Road at the same time or shortly afterwards alongside resurfacing work.
They say it is vital to allow children to walk safely to and from Bishop’s Stortford College, Hockerill Anglo-European College, Herts and Essex High School, St Mary’s Catholic School and Northgate and Windhill21 primaries.
A petition signed by 345 people pressed their case after a 2019 survey proved traffic volume was high enough to require a crossing, but the project failed to secure core funding from the council because there was no “collision history” in the past five years.
The campaigners have also won support from Herts county councillors Alastair Ward-Booth, the Conservative member for Bishop’s Stortford West division, and Calvin Horner, Liberal Democrat member for Stortford East, who want contributions made by the developers of Coopers Grange, 163 new homes off Patmore Close, to pay for the work.
A spokesman for Herts County Council told the Indie: “We do not know when, or even if, the proposed crossing will be constructed. This depends on the outcome of the investigation work and the design process.
“If diversions to utility company equipment are required, it could prove costly and make the scheme unviable in terms of funding.”
He added that the project could not be costed before the investigations were complete and a full design had been produced. Until a total is finalised, no application for Section 106 cash can be made.
He said the carriageway resurfacing planned to follow Cadent’s closure was programmed for April, “but this may be subject to change if we need to co-ordinate with other roadworks taking place in the town”.
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