Dear Mr
Latimer
A177
DURHAM ROAD,
STOCKTON
– ADVERTISED PROPOSALS
Further to your
E-mails dated 22 and 29 November 2009 received by Legal Services in
objection to the proposed 24 hour bus and cycle lanes and the 40 mph to 30
mph speed limit reduction on the A177 Durham Road, which are currently
being advertised on site as part of the Traffic Regulation Order
process.
The background
to the bus lane proposals is part of a wider programme of improvements to
upgrade bus facilities, improve journey times and bus punctuality across the
whole Tees
Valley area, which you
may be aware of from local press articles.
To briefly
summarise; a core network of bus routes has been developed for a package of
improvements known as the Tees Valley Bus Network Improvements. The
Government is providing substantial grants to contribute to the costs of the
proposals; the grants are going to the five local authorities across the
Tees Valley Region which comprise; Stockton,
Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and
Redcar & Cleveland.
Further
information on the background, identified schemes and phasing can be found
on the Council’s website www.stockton.gov.uk and
searching for “Bus
Network Improvements” where the summary business case is available to
download.
Works to improve
the bus network are programmed over a three year period with schemes in the
first year starting on site early in 2010, the A177 Durham Road improvements
is one of those year 1 schemes. This is still subject to Department for
Transport approval of the business case, a favourable decision is expected
before Christmas.
The issue
identified as part of the grant bid is that buses on Hardwick Road
have difficulty joining the A177 Durham Road at peak times and can
get delayed during occasional queuing on the A177, again at peak
times. In addition to the 24 hour operational bus lanes, the proposed
scheme also includes measures to address congestion and increase capacity at
the Hardwick Road / Redhill Road roundabout for general traffic, with the
creation of a west to north filter lane on the roundabout and the existing
south to west bus only filter will be opened to all traffic.
The bus lanes,
as advertised, do not cover the entire length in both directions, there are
three separate lengths of bus lane proposed; on both approaches to the
Hardwick
Road / Redhill Road roundabout and also on the
southbound approach to the ‘Mile House’ Darlington Lane traffic signals. The
affected length of A177 Durham Road is a single carriageway and thereby has
one traffic lane operating in either direction at the moment, as part of the
proposals a general traffic lane running parallel to the bus lane will
remain, in order to maintain capacity. No migration of traffic to other
routes, including Junction
Road, is anticipated and therefore did not
justify or highlight a need to model the impact of the A177 Durham Road
scheme upon B1274 Junction
Road or other adjacent road
network.
With regards to
the concerns you have raised in paragraph 2 of your email, I understand that
you have already received a full response in connection with Junction Road
Highway Improvements/traffic reports from the Council’s Head of
Technical Services and his team.
Whilst I acknowledge your comments, you have already been advised that
there is nothing further to add to previous responses sent, as these issues
have been fully investigated.
As you are aware
the end date for receipt of objections to the advertised proposals is
Thursday 10 December 2009, you have responded to the statutory advertisement
within the objection period. The next stage is to ask you to consider
your objection, if you wish your objection to both advertised Orders to be
upheld, the item will be referred to the Council’s Appeals and Complaints
Committee for review early in 2010. The Committee is independent to
the Traffic Regulation Order process and as an objector you would be given
an opportunity to address the Committee. The Committee will only
consider the merit of your objection to the proposals for A177 Durham Road
against the benefits of the introducing the scheme. The alternative option
is for you to withdraw your objection.
Please could you
indicate your intentions by return of E-mail to [email protected]
by Friday 18 December 2009.
Regards
Network
Safety
-----Original
Message-----
From: John W
Latimer [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 29 November 2009
10:47
To: Bond,
David
Cc: McGuckin, Richard
Subject: Fw:
Statutory Notices (x3 No, published Evening Gazette, Thursday November 19
2009), A177 Durham
Road,
Dear
Sirs,
For the avoidance of doubt I
formally object to these orders.
I am concerned that the Council
has not taken any account of the potential impact on the outcome of these
proposals on the usage of the B1274.
Yours
faithfully,
John W
Latimer.
Commondale
House
1A Countisbury
Road
Norton
TS20
1PY
-----Original
Message-----
From: John W
Latimer [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 22 November 2009
13:30
To: Bond, David
Cc: McGuckin,
Richard
Subject: Statutory Notices (x3 No,
published Evening Gazette, Thursday November 19 2009), A177 Durham
Road,
Date for objection to the two
proposed orders is 10 December 2009. I propose to formally object should the
Council not be able to give a convincing reply to my
concerns.
I do not intrinsically object,
however, the Council is aware of my concerns about the results of Council
decisions, which have affected the volume of traffic using the B1274,
Station
Road / Junction Road, over the years.
Increased volume has been generated on a road that is not suitable for
this purpose, particularly the narrow section between Ragpath Lane and
the Glebe, where I have suggested the road should be closed to all traffic
with the exception of emergency vehicles, public passenger
service vehicles, and pedal cycles. At peak periods, pedal cyclists are
endangered on this narrow section as motorists become frustrated at the lack
of opportunity for overtaking pedal cyclists. Pedal cyclists often resort to
using the public footpath to avoid the obvious danger of riding on this
narrow road. Congestion at peak periods affects roundabouts at
both ends of this road, particularly the roundabout at the Ring Road
junction.
The road network covered by
the Ring
Road, Durham Road
and Station
Road / Junction Road is very sensitive to
alterations and motorists will naturally err towards the line of least
resistance. The current advertised proposals of the Council, reference
Durham
Road, are designed to improve the use of
Durham
Road by public passenger service vehicles and
pedal cyclists. Will this detract from the use by motorists who may then
seek alternatives such as Station Road / Junction Road?
Has the Council undertaken a study of the likely outcome of the
proposals on the adjacent road network? Station Road / Junction Road is also a bus route
affected by congestion and uniquely unfriendly to pedal cyclists, which
could benefit using the same Council logic being proposed for Durham Road? The
major road is the A177 not the B1274 and through traffic seeking access
to and from the A19 should be discouraged from using the B1274? How
does the Council propose to achieve this
discouragement?