It’s been a bad week for traffic congestion in York. Mostly seems to be down to road works with some – like the installation of a new pedestrian crossing on Thanet Road, near the Foxwood Lane junction running several days behind schedule.
The Councils twitter links seem to be off the pace with neither @iTravel nor @york_travel offering much help.
You can check traffic conditions before setting out by visiting this web page https://roadworks.org/
Click for update
A scheme to reduce congestion to the south of the city moves a step closer next week as preparatory works begin on site.
The works – which will not interrupt traffic – have to happen before the main construction to widen the A19 junction with Wheldrake Lane, at Crockey Hill can take place in the new year.
The works include removing invasive weed species (such as Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed), ten trees and diverting a gas pipeline which runs close to the junction.
While the council has designed the junction improvements to minimise the amount of trees affected, it will provide a more diverse wildlife habit by planting 37 trees of different species in the new year.
An extra southbound lane will be built on approach to, and through the junction in a bid to ease rush-hour congestion heading south out of York, particularly at the A64 Fulford Interchange.
There will be no disruption to traffic during the preparatory works, and residents will be given plenty of notice before the mains construction works begin in mid-January 2018.
This scheme is funded from the DfT’s Local Pinch Point Fund. (more…)
Beacons on traffic lights will be ‘talking’ to cars in York as intelligent transport technology is used to reduce congestion in the city.
City of York Council has won £2.85m funding for its revolutionary Smarter Travel Evolution Programme (STEP) from the local road network strand of the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund.
STEP takes advantage of York’s unparalleled ultra fast fibre optic connectivity and the cutting edge transport research the government is already funding in the city.
Detectors located on traffic lights, bollards and other street furniture will track vehicle movements by anonymous signatures collected from people using mobile data services. This will then be processed using the most sophisticated real-time traffic data and analysis in the country. The system will also be able to talk to the new generation of connected and ‘driverless’ vehicles.
Starting in April 2018, tnational productivity fundhe two year life of STEP will transform the way the council manages the city’s roads, from changes to how traffic lights react to traffic flows through to designing junctions and road improvements.
This will also allow the council to better understand and model the potential impact of changes and demands on the network such as new homes and employment sites are created.
STEP will also provide ready-made technology to communicate with the connected and autonomous vehicles which are predicted to revolutionise transport with this data. (more…)
