Road will be widened for 100-metre bus lane (From Worcester News)

Road will be widened for 100-metre bus lane

11:30am Tuesday 17th August 2010 in

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A BUS lane will be created on a busy Worcester road – but it is a scaled-down version of what was originally proposed.

A section of Bromyard Road will be widened up to the junction of Broadway Grove to create a bus lane of about 100 metres going in to Worcester only.

However, plans to extend the bus lane in Tybridge Street have been axed from the £3.2 million Bromyard Road rapid transit corridor scheme.

When asked how much difference a 100-metre bus lane would make to bus journey times, Peter Blake, Worcestershire County Council’s head of integrated transport, said: “It’s not just about speeding things up but greater reliability through that corridor.”

As previously reported in your Worcester News, proposals to remove all parked cars off Bromyard Road into side streets have been abandoned following vociferous opposition from many residents and businesses in St John’s, as well as the city’s MP Robin Walker.

Following a meeting between senior county councillors and officers, as well as Mr Walker, the plans have been revised.

Mr Blake said the £3.2 million could only be spent on Bromyard Road because it was a “bespoke grant” if it was not used then officers would have to give it back to Government.

As a result his team are looking to “reinvest as much as we can in traffic signals and crossing points”.

In addition, a consultation is currently being carried out with 140 residents in Boughton Avenue about turning it into a one-way street.

By preventing traffic coming off Bromyard Road and using it as a rat-run, motorists wanting to get onto Bransford Road would have to use Watery Lane instead.

Councillor Derek Prodger, cabinet member for transport and safe environment, said he has had about 40 responses already, three-to-one of which are in favour of the proposal.

“It would create a safer environment for the road and they would get a new crossing over the other side of Bromyard Road to catch buses and go shopping,” he said.

Coun Prodger said he would wait until the end of the week before making a final decision.

Bromyard Road is currently closed in both directions to facilitate National Grid’s gas pipe replacement works and Worcestershire County Council is taking advantage of that by starting to install and upgrade traffic lights, crossings and street lighting.

The new traffic lights will be able to respond to oncoming buses fitted with devices – the vast majority of the city’s fleet have them – and turn lights green.

A new crossing linking St John’s with Cripplegate Park is also to be installed with a view to possibly closing the subway that runs underneath Tybridge Street at some point in the future.

Work to widen Bromyard Road and create the bus lane is due to start late autumn once discussions with a developer have resolved where a new access point will be located.

The whole scheme is due to be completed by March.