Solution to Gloucester's worst traffic jam at C&G and Wall's roundabouts?
RELIEF is finally around the corner for thousands of shoppers and commuters trapped in one of the county's worst regular traffic jams.
Major improvements are planned at two busy Gloucester roundabouts – the C&G and Wall's junctions in Barnwood.
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HOPES: Mark Hawthorne, Councillor Lise Noakes and Richard Graham.
Gloucestershire County Council has a promising bid for £2.17 million of funding from the Department of Transport to tackle major congestion problems on the A38 and A417 roundabouts.
Since more businesses have opened up at Barnwood Business Park, the roundabout has become gridlocked during peak times.
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Customers at Sainsbury's Barnwood store and staff at businesses, including Lloyds TSB and British Energy, have reported regular hour-long delays and, on one occasion last summer, some were trapped for five hours.
The county council has been looking for a solution to alleviate the problem for some time and a scheme has now been developed to tackle it.
It would cost £3.1million in total – paid for by the £2.17million funding bid with the balance to be shared between Shire Hall and Sainsbury's.
The plan includes changes to the junctions, widening of lanes, more flexible traffic light systems and extra lanes.
Council leader Mark Hawthorne said: "We know this route is often congested, creating problems for businesses and drivers. We have listened to these concerns and designed a scheme which should ease congestion at the two roundabouts and in the surrounding area."
Conservative city MP Richard Graham has lobbied transport ministers and will write in support of the scheme.
"The county council has done a good job in putting together a case in a short space of time," he said.
"This proposed solution would resolve most of the traffic problems. I think we have a decent chance of success."
Paul Lane, deputy manager at Sainsbury's Barnwood, added: "Congestion in the area is often a real problem and this puts people off visiting the store."
10 Comments
by jetjock62
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 6:24PM
“why not build another entrance/exit road somewhere as there is only one at present which means everyone has to go in and out on the same road”
by RoadWombat
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 4:44PM
“"Why not do a survey of the registration plates cross referenced to their registered address and see who could use public transport if it was to be quick clean and available?"
????
Why on earth would you want to do that? Indeed, why on earth would anyone WANT to use public transport if they had a vehicle available?”
by Localgirl75
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 2:02PM
“"Why not do a survey of the registration plates cross referenced to their registered address and see who could use public transport if it was to be quick clean and available?"
You can't force people to use public transport though.
Also, It's an awkward place to get to as I think it's only the Number 10 that stops on Barnwood Road which is the closest stop to Barnett Way. So if you don't live on that route there's no other way of getting there unless you catch a bus into town and then pick up the 10 – and who's got that much time to spare every morning and evening?
It doesn't help that there's only one way in and out.”
by Walker100
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 8:45AM
“On the BBC website this morning.....
"Federation spokesman Mark Owen said: "The longer you sit in a traffic jam, the longer your car is not moving or getting you anywhere"
Top man!!”
by TimMessanger
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 1:29AM
“Why not do a survey of the registration plates cross referenced to their registered address and see who could use public transport if it was to be quick clean and available?”
by GlosAnarchy
Monday, March 04 2013, 7:58PM
“@aroakley and what would the current users of this road think? That's correct they will tell you where to stick it. At rush hours Barnwood road is a nightmare with traffic queuing back from the Walls rounder-bout. What is needed as I said is to get public transport into and out of the site via a secondary route not available to car drivers making it desirable to use the new "posh" number 10 buses maybe just get every other one to travel via the site and call it the 10b or something like that. I wonder how many residents from Cheltenham who work at the site would take the bus if available from the town centre in a reasonable time to just outside their place of work and how many cars this could take off the road.
50 people 23000 trips per year
100 people 46000 trips per year
200 people 92000 trips per year
It soon adds up 50 cars replaced by one bus do the maths!”
by aroakley
Monday, March 04 2013, 12:05PM
“Reconnect Barnett Way to Barnwood Road by reopening the existing ends of Hammond Way and Weveland Lane. Make the newly reopened sections one-way to allow traffic to exit only onto Barnwood Road, not to enter from it - the problem is traffic getting stuck leaving Barnett Way, not getting in. In the case of Waveland Lane, there is already a tarmac'ed cycle path so other than a bit of widening, there really is very little to do there. For Hammond Way there is about a thirty metre strech at the far end of Hydro's car park that would need to be converted to roadway to connect to the access road around back of Walls Sports & Social club. Including the compulsary purchase of about two hundred square metres of land from Hydro and Walls it should be well less than quarter of a million quid. Halve that if you only did one, not both, of Hammond/Waveland. Job done.”
by GlosAnarchy
Monday, March 04 2013, 11:08AM
“ALL this will do is shift the problem to the next junctions down the line, Elmbridge Court Rounder-bout will be a nightmare! What would help is for some way to get the Number 10 bus into the site and do a loop in opposition to the queuing traffic then exit at the south east corner and onto the walls rounder-bout via the traffic lights. At peak times this might actually make the bus quicker and a lot of workers would be inclined to catch the bus rather than drive, reducing the traffic, pollution and need for more tarmac! This would also cost a LOT less than £3million!”
by Glos_Lad34
Monday, March 04 2013, 9:56AM
“I think they should turn it into the one by Tuffley/Quedgeley/Cole Ave/Bristol Road junction so it would just be a cross maybe.”
by Matt1006
Monday, March 04 2013, 8:44AM
“Let's hope the issues at these roundabouts are sorted out quicker and more successfully that the Missing Link / Air Balloon roundabout, and M5 J10. But as there's no mention of the Highways Agency this time, perhaps there's a good chance...??? Presumably the HA aren't responsible for these sections of the A38 & A417?
Expect they'll be additional congestion (ands more moaning) whilst the works are carried out, but the end result should be an improvement on the current situation. Providing it's all been thought about, and properly planned...”