UPDATE – Apparently the Council are to close Wheldrake Lane in an attempt to reduce delays on the A19 this evening
Drivers are complaining about huge delays for peak hours traffic as a result of the Councils road works at Crockey Hill
Some residents are asking for the traffic light controlled restrictions to be lifted at peak times as alternative routes are also congested.
Real time congestion information can be found on this web site https://roadworks.org/
Crockey Hill congestion
City of York Council is asking for comments on new proposals which could help reduce congestion on one of York’s busiest roads.
The scheme will reduce the average time taken to travel on the A19 South through the Fulford interchange junction and down the A19 to Crockey Hill by up to five minutes. The length of southbound queues will also be reduced by up to 50 per cent.
Over 20,000 vehicles use this route every day and at times over 1,200 vehicles use the junction every hour in one direction, which often causes queues and sections of the A19 to block.
As a result of so many vehicles using this road there are often large queues of traffic particularly southbound during busy times in the evening. This can cause what is known as a ‘pinch point’ or queues of traffic at the Crockey Hill traffic lights (junction of the A19 and Wheldrake Lane). This rapidly backs up to the A19/A64 Fulford Interchange which causes congestion on the A64 off slip-road and on the A19 in Fulford.
The scheme will help address this problem and supports phase 1 which was carried outover the summer of 2015. This helped to reduce congestion and improve public transport journey times and reliability northbound at the busy A19/A64 junction (near the Designer Outlet).
However, for southbound traffic going out of York, the problem of traffic queues in the evening remains. Phase two will help to ease the build up of congestion along this busy section of road, reducing the risk of blocking the A19/A64 junction and improving public transport reliability and journey times.
Funded entirely from the Department for Transport (DfT) pinch point fund, the scheme is estimated to cost approximately £1million.
Todays wet weather has brought more traffic congestion to the City.
Things are paricularly busy on the A1237 northern by pass and are likely to worsen as we approach the evening rush hour.
Real time updates can be found on this web site https://roadworks.org/
click to access
Team GB medal winners from Rio, Joanna Rowsell Shand, Katie Archibald and Phillip Hindes will be joined by Tre Whyte, Shanaze Reade and Kyle Evans.
Sky Ride is a free, fun bike ride along a scenic 7km route taking in some of York’s famous landmarks including the Minster and Clifford’s Tower. The route will also take riders through the Festival of Cycling in Rowntree Park.
During Sky Ride York there will be music and entertainment, competitions and above all, a great traffic-free route to ride around the centre of York that will allow bike riders to see York from a different perspective.
Riders will also be able to take in the Festival of Cycling when the route passes Rowntree Park. The free festival has something for the whole family with all sorts of pedal powered activities for people to take part in. There will be bikes and trikes of all shapes and sizes including adapted bikes, balance bikes and tandems for people to test ride.
There will also be ten adapted bikes available to hire from Rowntree Park (near the Millennium Bridge entrance). Bike hire is free of charge, and available on a first come, first served basis.
The Sky Ride York route will be closed to all traffic from 10.30am until approximately 5pm, or as soon as possible after the event has finished to ensure the safety of everyone taking part.
Residents and visitors are urged to make use of the city’s extensive Park&Ride network on the day, particularly by using the Park&Pedal facilities at any of York’s six Park&Ride sites.
Bus routes will be altered to ensure that access into and out of the city centre is maintained, whilst avoiding those roads closed as part of the route. Revised timetables will be put into place to ensure the smooth running of bus services. Residents and visitors are being encouraged to check their travel plans in advance and allow extra time for their journeys on the day. A complete list of bus route diversions will be available to download from http://www.itravelyork.info/news/get-in-gear
Castle car park will continue to be open on the day, however there will be reduced capacity to allow for one of the Sky Ride ‘activation zones’ featuring activities for residents and visitors to enjoy. A traffic management stop/go process will be in place here to assist the smooth flow of traffic.
Rowntree Park car park will be closed on Sunday 11 September due to the Festival of Cycling taking place, as in previous years. For safety reasons there will be no access to parking inside the route.
Don’t miss out on the chance to be part of this fun, free celebration of cycling at Sky Ride York. Sign up now at www.goskyride.com/YorkSkyRide
A1237 dualling still illusive
With congestion levels on the A1237 York northern by pass gradually increasing, residents have called on the City of York to provide an update report on plans to dual the road.
Progress had been promised by Conservative candidates in last years elections but funding – with possibly as much as £240 million needed – is apparently caught up in a wrangle about electing a new regional Mayor.
The government has said that devolution of resources is dependent on the boundaries for new Mayoral regions being agreed. West Yorkshire and North /East Yorkshire are at logger heads over the plan, with York caught in the middle. Meanwhile Sheffield is pressing ahead with its own plans to elect a South Yorkshire Mayor.
No reference was made to a northern Yorkshire devolution in the deals announced in the recent statement by the Chancellor.
The recently published forward programme of decisions likely to be made by the York Council over the next 4 months contains no reference to the dualling project.
Nor is there any provision in the Council 5 years capital programme which was agreed in February.
The Council will again borrow heavily to fund schemes which include:
Borrowing costs click to enlarge
*It seems highly unlikely that this money will be spent in the current financial year as the contract is not now expected to be let until the spring.
The Council will invest in better play grounds and more solar powered litter bins.
The programme also includes a (mostly unallocated) £15m sum in the “economic investment fund”. This is understood still to include major contributions towards a bridge into the York Central site and funding for a Digital Media Centre.
The 5 year rolling programme – which includes projects which are both directly and indirectly funded – does not identify any money for improvements to the northern by pass.
The West Yorkshire “Combined Authority” agreed last November to include a £37.6m allocation in their forward programme for the project.
Following the announcement by the government of an allocation of £1 billion for the “West Yorkshire Plus Transport fund”, the York Council was asked to commit £500,000 a year in its revenue budget to progress the ring road project.
The expectation was that the £37 million investment would be used to upgrade those roundabouts – such as the one on the Haxby Road – which currently cause bottlenecks on the A1237.
According to the Combined Authorities programme formal approval for improvements at the first junction was due to be given this month (August) with a start on site in March 2016.
No explanation for the delays has been provided in the report to York Councillors.
The government funding allocation must be used by 2021.
Although there has been no official statement from the new coalition rulers at the York Council, it seems likely that plans to establish a “congestion commission” will be scrapped when it holds its first Executive meeting on 25th June.
The Council leadership are right to get some of the detritus that it inherited, from the last administration, out of the way quickly.
Similar statements of intent would be welcome on issues such as the future of the Guildhall, the Knights rugby club, Coppergate fines. Oliver House etc.
Coppergate – Time to move on
The “Commission” idea was floated by a discredited administration which was desperately trying to recover from the Lendal Bridge shambles. Rather than face the criticism that is usually attached to taking any decision about transport in the City, Labour hoped to deflect the odium onto third parties. Hence the establishment of a Commission which would no doubt have agonised again about congestion charging and the like.
The debates would have been at a huge cost to taxpayers – £135,000 was quoted.
The Council already has a transport plan. It was agreed in 2011 and offers a balance of initiatives aimed at reducing congestion. It needs updating, not least because the decision to bring a trial cross river access restriction forward from 2025 to 2013 has seriously damaged its credibility.
But any transport strategy has to be affordable. With dualling of the northern by pass still elusively outside the resources of even the “combined authority”, talk of trams, tubes, extra river bridges and river buses would be just that – talk.
A1237 dualling still illusive
Any updated transport plan needs to build on what has been successful over the past decade when congestion levels have remained more or less stable.
There has been some modal shift to cycles and walking. Buses were becoming more popular until Labour made the grand gesture of evicting the ftr without having anything half as attractive to passengers to substitute, while new roundabouts on the A1237 have eased bottlenecks.
Now Labour have played an old – and discredited card – when claiming that “80 people a year” die in York as a result of poor air quality. This was the favourite claim of former transport chief Dave Merrett who – after much pressing – admitted that the figure was simply a local extrapolation of national respiratory death statistics.
No one knows how many local deaths, through respiratory diseases, are caused by the pollutants emitted by vehicles (or industry for that matter) but most would, no doubt, support verifiable actions to address locations where pollution levels are sometimes high (mainly narrow terraced streets like Gillygate).
New electric bus fleet launched last week
So some marks should be awarded to the last Council for beginning the roll out of the type of electric buses first trialled in the City in 2010.
More of this kind of thinking – making the best use of advancing technologies – will take the city forward in a measured and affordable way and with a reasonable chance of carrying the local population with it.
The York Council is to reconsider whether to set up a “Congestion Commission” before the Council elections take place on May 7th
The Cabinet proposal had been called in by opposition Councillors who pointed out that any decisions taken now could be overruled in little over 2 months time by what could be a completely different Council.
Concerns were also expressed about the cost of the “commission” and its membership.
The issue will be reconsidered by the “Cabinet” at a meeting taking place on 3rd March
City of York Council is undertaking a targeted consultation on a scheme to improve one of York’s busiest road interchanges.
Proposed extra lane for A19 announced
The consultation on proposed changes to the A19/A64 junction forms the first phase in the A19 Pinch Point Scheme, which York received approximately £2million for from the government’s Department for Transport, aimed at helping support growth and tackle congestion.
The council is now consulting users of the junction on proposed changes which include the addition of an extra inbound lane on the A19 on approach to the Designer Outlet / A64 roundabout.
Plans also include a new additional inbound bus-lane between the two roundabouts which would link into the existing bus-lane on the A19 north of this junction. These works would increase the capacity of this junction and save users time on their journeys through this major interchange.
The council bid for and successfully secured millions in funding from a share of the £170 million government Pinch Point Funding in 2013 to protect the A19 from any future closure.
York received approximately £2million from the Department for Transport towards the cost of the £4.7m project which will help towards supporting local transport schemes that tackle congestion and support growth.
The £100,000 scheme was controversial from the start with no provision being made for card payments.
Currently the barriers are raised allowing free car parking.
It is unclear what damage this is doing to the Councils income or whether Labour Councillors will be forced to increase charges at other car parks to make up for any deficit.
The two tabled questions read:
The same cabinet member will be asked to reveal how many drivers have taken advantage of the “free” parking made available, on 3 mornings a week, at some of York’s car parks.
It is hoped that the impact on other car parks – and Council income – will be revealed.
