Solution needed to bus lane mayhem
RE the Leigh Guided Busway: I live on Bank Lane (Irlams o’ th’ Height ) and witness the daily mayhem caused by the bus lane and feel compelled to comment.
From about 3.30pm to 6.30 pm, on workdays, the East Lancs Road from Pendleton Church to Moorside Road becomes gridlocked, resulting in a catastrophic waste of fuel, a huge cloud of pollution and hundreds of hours of increased travelling times for commuters.
This is not helped by the fact that a lane in both directions is now effectively closed to accommodate a few buses, and to learn that one of the three bus services that use the lane is to be axed really is the icing on the cake.
The only short-term solution is for the powers-that-be to hold their hands up, admit the mistake and shut the bus lane. This would immediately bring 30 per cent more usable road surface into play and at the very least help drivers who are turning left down Lancaster Road and Worsley Road... not to mention a general reduction in fuel consumption, pollution and commuting times.
Another by-product of the bus lane and the ongoing chaos is the fact that Bank Lane/ Broomhall Road are now being used as a rat-run by 200 or 300 drivers trying to avoid the gridlock. Something has to be done before somebody is hurt, but the planners are proposing to erect bollards across Bank Lane. This is not the answer, but instead of the sensible solution and get rid of the bus lane, the planners will probably force it through.
We, as local residents, have been sent a letter outlining the possibility of these bollards. I have replied and offered to tell them what could help the problem. In return, and true to form, I have been ignored. Robert Howard, Irlams o’ th’ Height