Concern as village fills up with motors
Community Council calls for roads review
Congestion concerns have prompted Uddingston Community Council to call for a review of traffic levels and parking in the village.
The group insist that every available parking space, official and unofficial, is being utilised on a daily basis and regularly leads to traffic congestion.
Old Mill Road near the centre of the village and roads around Uddingston railway station have been identified as bottlenecks.
Uddingston Community Council member Jimmy Keenan said this week: “We are seeking a full review of the traffic and parking situation in Uddingston. We feel these problems are intrinsic to Uddingston.
“The parking situation in Uddingston is not being addressed. There is a lot of pressure on parking in the village.
“The volume of traffic is chaotic at times – it leads to frustrated motorists and pedestrians.
“Official car parks are inadequate. Cars are parked onstreet and this inhibits the flow of traffic. You just need to look at the situation at the railway station where people cannot get parked. This has a knock-on effect elsewhere.
“On Old Mill Road cars are parked nose-to-tail. Cars are also being parked along Castle Avenue as well.
“Uddingston has been getting larger over the last few years, but the infrastructure has not kept pace.”
South Lanarkshire’s head of roads and transportation services Gordon Mackay said this week that drivers, avoiding ongoing trunk improvement works including the Raith Interchange on the M74 and the A8/M8 corridor, have been the cause of increased traffic and congestion at peak times on many of the area’s roads.
He added: “These levels are expected to reduce to normal on completion of the trunk road works in the Spring of 2017, although monitoring of the traffic volumes on the road network will continue thereafter.
“Within Uddingston there are areas of unlimited parking as well as restricted parking both on- and off-street. These allow a mixture of short- and long-stay parking to meet the variety of demands in a town centre location, with the short-term parking providing a turnover of parking opportunities for those frequenting businesses in the Main Street.
“The Park and Ride facility at Uddingston Railway Station is owned by Network Rail, and in common with those at similar locations throughout South Lanarkshire is free to use. Our Local Transport Strategy identifies opportunities for improvement at Uddingston should Network Rail deem it necessary.”
The issue of village traffic and parking will be on the agenda at Uddingston Community Council’s meeting tonight (Thursday) at the David Milne Centre at 7pm.