Agenda item

Paul Thackray will give an update on the proposed A59 Park & Ride scheme and you will hear more about the proposed bus route corridor through Acomb ward and the Park & Ride site.

Ray Chaplin Head of Engineering at the City of York Council gave an update on the Poppleton Bar Park and Ride proposals, including the proposed bus corridors through the Acomb ward.  The proposed site is located alongside the A59 at the junction with Northfield Lane.   The site will eventually hold 1250 cars but the first stage will hold 600.  There were proposals to increase capacity at the A59 island and to introduce safe cycling measures to link with the existing cycle lane.

Ray stated that the bus corridor proposals were at an early concept stage.  A series of slides were displayed showing proposed improvements including a bus lane from Plantation Drive to Princess Drive including a widening of the footpath to provide a shared cycle and pedestrian footway.  In addition it was proposed that bus gates be installed on the main road at the junction with Princess Drive including CCTV for traffic management and a bus priority traffic light system. 

Similar upgrades would be made at the Water End junction.  In addition it was proposed to add bus stops near Renshaw Drive along with bus priority systems.  There were also proposals to increase the width of the carriageway on Poppleton Road to create a bus lane with new bus stops and a pedestrian crossing.

Councillor Simpson-Laing raised a query about the adoption of footpaths in relation to the cycle lane near Princess Drive.  Ray emphasised that these proposals were in their early stages and that there could be difficulties with some aspects of the proposals. 

Q -   Are you looking at taking out the chicanes on Poppleton Road.

A (Ray Chaplin) – There would be some fine tuning

Q – What is the total budget for the scheme?

A – 27 Million in total.

Q – Aren’t bus lanes ineffective as roads are too narrow?

A – The project has to work within the boundaries of reducing congestion whilst considering the conservation of the area.  The scheme would be looking at improving congestion at the A59 island.

Q – Wouldn’t Millfield Lane have been a better site?

A – There is direct access into the city from Millfield Lane but no land was available.

Q – What other options are there for pedestrian safety at the A59 island as people will not use underpasses.

A – The design team are currently looking into it.

Q – What is the money for?

A - Park and Ride sites and bus corridors.

Q – What is traffic modelling?

Ray displayed a new slide which showed the potential advantages in traffic queue length, if changes were made to the A59 island.

Q – What percentage of people go to Rawcliffe at the A59 Island?

A – About 30%.

Q – Is this the same traffic model that gave us the ring road?

A – No.

Q – Why can’t we build a flyover?

A – Flyovers would cost around 246million and there is no funding available for them.

Q – Will there be traffic lights on the A59 island?

A – It’s a possibility in the future.

Ray stated that the park and ride scheme was designed to get people out of their cars and create a quicker bus service.  Councillor Simpson-Laing stated that care was needed as there could be bus congestion as between St Paul’s Church and Holgate Road.

Andrew Bradley (Principal Transport Planner) stated the proposals were being looked at in conjunction with existing buses and that new bus maps would be produced.

Councillor Simpson-Laing asked Ray to keep the Ward Committee informed of developments.