U.S. Air Force and local constabulary vehicles carry the 100th RAF Baton to RAF Croughton from RAF Barford St. John in 2018 during an anniversary event. U.K. officials have agreed to spend nearly $5 million to improve road safety near the two U.S. Air Force bases in England. (Chase Sousa/U.S. Air Force)
The United Kingdom will spend at least $6.5 million to improve road safety near two bases hosting the U.S. Air Force.
The work is to be carried out near RAF Barford St. John, Oxfordshire, and RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. The bases are about 9 miles from each other.
It comes after an American driver hit and killed a 19-year-old British motorcyclist outside the Croughton base in 2019, prompting the country’s transport secretary to launch a review of road safety in the area.
The Oxfordshire county and West Northamptonshire councils have since been working with the Transport Department to determine the best ways to enhance safety. The department has offered grants for the improvements.
On Thursday, the Oxfordshire council accepted a grant worth $1.6 million, adding to $3.4 million it accepted in March 2023.
The money will be used for things like road resurfacing, maintenance work and new signs, according to government documents.
“The government has made available money to look at road safety around bases used by United States visiting forces. This is … part of Oxfordshire’s allocation of those funds,” Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for transportation management, said Thursday during a recorded council meeting.
“It’s not one scheme; it’s lots of relatively small interventions,” Gant added.
Meanwhile, the West Northamptonshire Council approved $1.6 million for similar projects, with work being carried out this year, spokeswoman Beth Longhurst said in an email.
U.K. officials have agreed to spend nearly $5 million to improve road safety near two U.S. Air Force bases in England, RAF Croughton and RAF Barford St. John. (Facebook/RAF Croughton)
An additional $250,000 allocated to the council for improvements around RAF Croughton will be considered later, Longhurst added.
“The program of works will introduce additional measures on the routes between the two U.S. Army bases,” Longhurst said.
The projects include traffic-calming measures, removal of obstructing vegetation, enhanced street lighting and a new pedestrian crossing. The work is expected to be done by the end of this year, she said.
Vehicles in the U.K. travel on the opposite side of the road compared with the U.S., and signs already exist around RAF Barford St. John and RAF Croughton to remind drivers of that.
In 2022, Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. intelligence officer, received an eight-month suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to driving on the wrong side of the road near RAF Croughton in 2019 and colliding with a motorcycle driven by teenager Harry Dunn, causing his death.
Sacoolas returned to the U.S. days after the crash, and the U.S. invoked diplomatic immunity on her behalf, which prompted an outcry in Britain.
In December, the transport secretary wrote to Dunn’s parents to say that the Department for Transport would provide funding for all the recommendations in the road safety audit of RAF Croughton and RAF Barford St. John, British government spokesperson Christy O’Brien said Friday.
RAF Croughton is home to the 422nd Air Base Group and processes approximately a third of all U.S. military communications in Europe.
RAF Barford St. John, a satellite of RAF Croughton, also operates as a communications center.
