Agenda item
Park & Ride
Following the recent government approval to support funding for the “Access York” plans, Tony Clarke, City Strategy Capital Programme Manager will give an update
Minutes:
Tony Clarke, City Strategy Capital Programme Manager, presented information on the Park and Ride proposals.
This is a £22m project with a proposal for two new park & ride sites, the A59 including an upgrade to the roundabout and Askham Bar. The consultation period will run through February with construction in early 2013.
The proposal is for a bus lane from Plantation Drive to Cranbrook Avenue, an upgrade to the junction at Water End and bus lanes from Holgate Park to Acomb Road and a bus stop for the park & ride at Holgate Park. This will increase traffic flow for buses.
A leaflet has been distributed in Poppleton containing information about the upgraded roundabout, traffic signals at Station Road. When the work is completed it is anticipated that the queue levels will reduce.
The diameter of the roundabout will be doubled, so will be similar to the size of the A19 roundabout. There will be two lanes on the circulation, a subway for pedestrians and cyclists and speed reduction levels will be put on the A59.
The timeline for works include highway layout consultation in February 2012 with the design complete in spring 2012. The tender process will follow in summer 2012 with the construction of the bus priority lane in autumn 2012 and the main site construction in 2013 and the opening in spring 2014.
The highways works consultation is underway, comments should be submitted before March 3rd. The designs will then be revised based on the comments received and the final design will be presented at the April Decision Session for approval.
There are two websites for more information
or email accessyork@york.gov.uk
The following questions were raised:
Q. Traffic from Harrogate has to turn right to exit; as the scheme is costing £22m would it be cost effective to include a slip road under the A59 to eliminate the need to turn right?
A. People will be coming from different directions and unfortunately this would not achievable within the funding we have secured. It is a good suggestion which we can look at.
Q. How much is the subway costing, there are not many cyclists and pedestrians so it might not be used much?
A. 150 people (cyclists and pedestrians) travel across it daily. Part of the wider transport strategy is to encourage more sustainable transport, encouraging people to leave their cars at home. There are many residents living close by who may choose to walk to the park and ride, we need to ensure their safety. The subway will cost between £500,000 and £750,000.
Q. Cars back up now and there is the potential for this to become worse, are there any plans to address this?
A. We are opne to suggestions as to how this could be eased.
Q. Will traffic leave the roundabout at a higher speed than they do now?
A. No, the capacity of the roundabout will be increased by widening it so traffic will leave more efficiently and effectively not at a higher speed. We are trying to ensure people can travel through the roundabout more effectively without increasing their speed.
Q. It will be very dangerous to exit Cinder Lane, what has been put in place to address this?
A. The A59 will be moved southwards slightly to increase the visibility when exiting Cinder Lane. This issue has been raised previously so we have also purchased a small area of land which will increase visibility further. We will be including changes to the road surfacing and lane markings and are investigating the possibility of putting a 30 mile per hour limit in place.
Q. What have the Health & Safety Executive and the Police said about the plans?
A. The Police have undertaken a safety audit and have made their comments. With some design changes they are happy with the design.
As we are currently in the middle of the consultation period we will take all the comments received and review the plans before they are taken to the Decision Session in April.
Q. Speed cameras would help with identifying those who speed and so help keep speeds low. Can some be put in place? Cinder Lane, Hodgson Lane and possibly Black Dike Lane would benefit from the cameras.
A. Speed cameras are the responsibility of the Police, we can ask the Police to consider putting some cameras in these areas but the decision rests with the Police
Q. Speed bumps and or ramps might be a suitable alternative?
A. The A59 would not be an appropriate road to install this kind of system
Q. Your leaflet states that if traffic in Poppleton increases during the construction phase or as a result of the scheme additional traffic measures will be introduced. What are these measures?
A. Traffic calming speed cushions and or chicanes, one way roads and closing some roads are the measures we would be investigating.
Q. What would be the timeframe if there were traffic issues and these needed to be put into place?
A. We don’t anticipate that there will be any issues.
Q. The major road around the Poppletons is close to the river, what could be done on this road to ease any traffic issues?
A. We would not be able to make this one way. When we have raised potential solutions previously a consensus has not been reached.
Q. The plans are to move the garage nearer the garage. What plans are the plans for cars to turn right into and out of the garage?
A. No restrictions are planned, we may need to review this.
Q. The measures that will be considered if traffic in the village is increased, would it be sensible to plan for increased traffic rather than wait for it to happen?
A. The construction vehicles will have to adhere to the conditions written into the contract, this will make sure that the traffic is not on the road at peak times.
Q. It was expected that some contingency plans would have been put into place regarding the congestion as it has been raised previously. It is inevitable that there will be congestion on Station Road and the junction and around the post office as these are high traffic areas now and the situation will worsen.
A. It is difficult to see what a consensus would be , we will continue to look at it and will monitor it through the scheme.
Q. The scheme is going ahead but for a year the village will be congested, what will be done?
A. Some arrangements can be made with the contractors to try to reduce the congestion.
Q. Several drives enter and exit onto the road, what has been done to ensure the safety of these people?
A. This will be looked at before work starts.
Q. The works will cause a rat run through the village. Could the Police support the scheme and have a speed gun?
A. This is a constructive suggestion which we can ask the Police to consider.
Q. A council manual with reference to the Highways Agency states the required site lines, already these regulations have been breached. Are the Council prepared to take the responsibility of breaching these regulations?
A. Standards have changed and the design complies with the current guidelines.
Q. Cars will need to turn right from the A59 to the park & ride, should not cars go round the roundabout instead of turning right?
A. The flow of traffic through the roundabout is high anyway and we are trying to keep it low.
Q. The package of measures which are put into place through the construction phase, could they be left in place after construction?
A. It may be possible and is something we could look at.
Q. Would the traffic lights be on a cycle or linked to the control room at City of York Council.
A. The lights will be responsive to different times of the day, peak times etc. They will be looped.
Q. Cars will jump the amber/red lights which will prevent the flow of traffic out of the village. Is there any way of installing a camera to identify the irresponsible drivers or give villagers priority?
A. The bigger roundabout will be able to cater for a bigger amount of traffic so the traffic from Station Road will be able to exit more easily.
Q. Some roundabout are not very effective and need to be redesigned several times. What are you doing to make sure this roundabout will not need to be redesigned?
A. Before the construction work begins the comments received through his consultation period will be fed into the process. They will be included in the report to Cabinet. This report will be shared with the Ward Councillors and will be available on the City of York Council website.
Q. Has the software which has been used to determine the traffic flow been sued to determine the effect of having a slip road under the A59?
A. We will look at this when we look at putting in a slip road.
Q. How does the A59 roundabout compare tot he A19 roundabout?
A. The A19 roundabout has a diameter of 75m and has more arms. The A19 roundabout has a diameter of 68m and has approx 40,000 vehicles per day.
Q. Will buses go round the roundabout?
A. The park & ride buses and the Ripon bus will travel round the roundabout.
Q. Will the phasing of the lights on Station Road will mean that if a car is travelling straight across or turning right there may be traffic standing.
A. The traffic lights will be configured on site to enable traffic to flow.
Q. Residents can not see any benefits of the A19 roundabout. The A1237 seems to have all the benefit, the A59 does not benefit, at the present time at least.
A. Things should improve on the A59 once the work is completed.
Q. Why are there more street light on the ring road?
A. These are for Helath & Safety reasons.
Q. Large Heavy goods Vehicles travel on the A59 will they need to turn of or will they be travelling through the roundabout?
A. The junction will be designed for the traffic which travels on it.
Safety is more important than pleasing everyone.