BUS LANES SET TO BE SCRAPPED:
Plans revealed to ‘ease congestion’
PLANS have been revealed to remove a number of city bus lanes in an effort to ease congestion and increase parking spaces.
Stoke-on-trent City Council is proposing to get rid of five of the designated lanes, while carrying out a consultation on the introduction of ‘red routes’.
The plans for the bus lanes are the subject of the same consultation, and people have until January 11 to give their views on the changes.
The council had already proposed to remove bus lanes in Church Street, Stoke, to improve access to the town centre, and The Strand, in Longton, to free up space for more on-street parking bays.
The authority now also intends to get rid of the lanes in Cobridge, Tunstall and Werrington.
In Waterloo Road, the space would be reallocated to provide an extra lane for traffic heading towards Burslem town centre at the busiest times of the day. Outside of peak hours, it would be used for new loading and parking facilities.
The bus lane in Werrington Road would be reallocated for use by all traffic.
In Tunstall’s High Street, the plan is to replace the existing bus lane with a very short length of bus lane, just south of the Woodland Street junction. The authority says this would prevent traffic from using the High Street as a short cut, whilst allowing additional parking bays to be proposed.
The plans also include making Farndale Street one-way with a banned right turn into High Street to prevent it being used as a shortcut. Traffic calming measures are proposed in Wesley Street to reduce vehicle speeds.
Councillor Daniel Jellyman, cabinet member for regeneration, transport and heritage, said: “Simple changes can help to alleviate congestion. So far we’ve removed two bus lanes in the city, and removing the ones on Waterloo Road and High Street, in Tunstall, will give us the additional benefit of extra parking without affecting traffic flows in those areas.
“I think the combined red route and bus lane scheme we have on the table now is the best way forward for motorists, businesses and residents.”
Traders in the affected areas welcomed the council’s plans.
Bill Mcdonald, who owns Copycad in High Street, Tunstall, said: “I think removing the bus lane will help. At the moment everyone parks on the retail park and it causes chaos. The pedestrian crossing is going every two minutes and the traffic builds up. This might help with this problem and bring more traffic into the high street.”
Bill Day has owned Forward Precision Engineering, in Waterloo Road, Burslem, for 40 years.
He said: “I’m glad that the council has listened to the business that said they need to be able to load and unload – that’s very important.”
The revised proposals for bus lane removals are available to view on the council’s website and the formal Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) can be viewed in the main reception of the Civic Centre.