South Gloucestershire Council wants to provide greater options for how people travel around the area.
Consultations on proposals to improve bus, walking, wheeling and cycling facilities along two key routes in the district launched this week. They are the A38 (between Thornbury and junction 16 of the M5) including the B4061 Thornbury Road/Alveston Hill and Bradley Stoke Way, and the A4174 Avon Ring Road (between the Coldharbour Lane junction and the Wick Wick roundabout).
The council wants to deliver a step-change in making it much easier for people to walk, use a wheelchair or pushchair and cycle around our area, and improve public transport. Government funding has been received to deliver these two schemes.
The first set of ideas for improvements on these routes received a high number of comments. The latest version of the proposals aims to address as many of those comments as it can.
Proposals for the A38 and Bradley Stoke Way include:
- New bus lanes
- Shared-use paths
- Segregated two-way cycle lanes
- Improvements to bus stops
- New and improved crossings
- Speed limit reductions.
Proposals for the B4061 Thornbury Road/Alveston Hill include:
- Shared-use paths
- Two-way cycle lanes
- Improvements to bus stops
- New and improved crossings.
Proposals for the A4174 include:
- A new bus stop
- New segregated two-way cycle lane
- New and improved crossings
- Speed limit reductions
- Some junction improvements to improve the flow of traffic.
The work will be funded by the Department for Transport (DfT) through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements Fund (CRSTS), administered by the West of England Combined Authority. The money available for these projects can only be used for new transport infrastructure and cannot be used for funding bus services, filling potholes or other council functions such as social services, education or libraries.
Councillor Chris Willmore, cabinet member responsible for transport at South Gloucestershire Council, said: “People are telling me that right now their priority is to have buses, more routes and more frequent services – this is a separate capital fund from government to help make it easier for people walking, cycling or using wheelchairs and to provide a long-term bus corridor in the A38. So our question is – how do we best use this money for the purpose it was given to us – the A38 and A4174. It’s about reducing barriers so people have more choice about how they get about, and getting our roads ready for better bus services.
“If you have not looked at earlier versions of the plan, do please have a look – and if you have looked at previous versions, please mark our homework – is it better this time? We really need your ideas about how to achieve that goal of improving cycling, walking wheeling and bus facilities on these routes – and support people who live along it.”
Feedback gathered will be used to finalise designs for the improvements before a full business case and a request for funding is submitted to the West of England Combined Authority next year.
