Solutions to town’s traffic

Dear Editor,

Although resident outwith East Kilbride for 16 years, I did reside at three separate addresses within it over a period of 32 years (Driven to distraction, November 1).

Also, I continue periodically to use EK’s road infrastructure as a PCV driver and would offer my views which may ‘sum up’ the situations surrounding this proposal.

Councillor Jim Wardhaugh may be unconvinced that circumstances, at least confined to the said stretch of road, warrant the case for ‘dualling’.

However, in the context of a wider range of interests, I am open to there being a viable case for radical changes to Greenhills Road.

Perhaps Stroud Road is operating above its intended capacity. To that end, traffic entering leaving EK via A749 and A725 corridors to/from Greenhills residential area may be dissuaded from using Stroud Road in favour of negotiating Torrance roundabout.

If, however, those interests are not a contributor then I would welcome that funding be deployed elsewhere.

I do share Mr Wardhaugh’s observation that Birniehill Roundabout (as with all similarly configured junctions in/around the town centre, plus Whirlies) experiences chronic congestion, especially during peak periods.

Could the grazed roadsides not be converted into bus lanes?

This need not compromise current pedestrian & cycle provision.

Talking of sustainable modes of travel, cues ought to be taken from the A723’s clever elevated walkways (in the vicinity of M74’s junction 6) and applying a comparable approach to the Whirlies roundabout.

Obviously a dominant flow of cycle traffic would require to be determined to negate the need for an elaborate looking tangle of passages. Andy McIntyre, via email