It looks like the proposal to change traffic signal priorities at the Gillygate/Bootham/St Leonard’s Place junction will be abandoned.
Some York Councillors had apparently favoured introducing additional delays on traffic flows through the junction as part of a signal renewal programme.
The revised arrangement – although improving pedestrian facilities – could have resulted in a 40% increase in travel times with some journeys being diverted onto already busy alternative routes.
There would also have been a consequential increase in air pollution levels on streets like Gillygate because of standing traffic. Bus journey times would have increased.
A public consultation exercise was undertaken to test residents’ reactions to the plan. Despite some leading questions being included in the on-line survey, most respondents (58%) have come out against major changes.
Although the junction is far from ideal for all road users, it currently reflects the compromises that come if you wish to conserve the historic features of a City like York.
The responses to the consultation do reveal a growing chasm between the views of people who live within walking distance of the City centre and those who use personal transport to travel to the facilities that are located there.
There is a lack of empathy between the two groups which suggests that finding a consensus on a new transport plan for the City (click) may prove to be illusive.
Options consulted on for Bootham Gillygate junction winter 2020/21
This design replaces all signalling equipment at the junction whilst also making slight improvements for pedestrians crossing the junction. Transport modelling of these revisions indicate that the impact to all vehicular traffic moving through the junction is negligible however the improvements to infrastructure at the site make future upgrades and revisions to operation easier.
* A full replacement of all on site traffic signalling technology
* Pedestrian Crossing width increased to 4 metres on the Bootham arm of the junction
* Pedestrian Crossing width increased to 6 metres on the Gillygate arm of the junction
* Tactile paving on the St Leonards Place arm of the crossing to be realigned meet current design standards.
Option 2
This design looks to reallocate space at the junction from road traffic to pedestrians whilst also replacing the required signalling equipment.
Transport modelling of the redesign indicates that the changes would reduce the capacity of the junction by approximately 30%. This would see significant increases in general traffic delay at the junction and a large increase in queues which would impact on adjacent junctions across the network.
* A full replacement of all on site traffic signalling technology.
* Pedestrian Crossing widths increased to 4 metres across both the Gillygate and Bootham arms of the junction.
* Additional pedestrian crossing point introduced from the eastern corner of Gillygate to the western footway of St Leonards Place.
* Removal of the left turn lane from St Leonards Place reducing the highway into a single lane in both directions.
* Highway realigned to the East of Gillygate/St Leonards place to create a more straight ahead route for vehicles travelling from Gillygate into St Leonards Place and additional footway and pedestrian realm adjacent to Bootham Bar.
* Existing Pedestrian Island removed from St Leonards place and crossing realigned as a single stage crossing.
The consultation runs until 31st March.
Dropped kerbs
The Council is also consulting on a revised policy for approving dropped kerb – verge cross over plans.
Lack of on street parking space means that more residents will be likely to seek to make this change in the future. Installation of vehicle charging facilities as the internal combustion engine is phased out, may stimulate demand.
The new regulations are very proscriptive. They don’t permit the relocation of tree or street furniture which may obstruct access to a driveway.
A programme of providing dropped kerbs for Council owned premises has stalled over recent years meaning that verges in several streets are now badly damaged.
The Council is also consulting on the future of its Homeshare services
“Currently Homeshare matches a homeowner aged 55+ who has a spare room and could benefit from some support and/or companionship (the ‘Householder’) with a younger person who will provide 10 hours of support a week in exchange for accommodation (the ‘Homesharer’). Homeshare is free to the Householder and the Homesharer pays £160 towards the running of the match as well as any contributions towards council tax increases. Homesharer’s are fully vetted including two references and a DBS check. Matches are made based on both parties’ personalities and interests and support is offered throughout the match. Matches are expected to last for a minimum of 6 months but can be ended early if a match is not working out. For more information you can visit ourHomeshare webpage.“
New traffic signals will be installed at the pedestrian crossing/road junction in Monks Cross this month, ahead of the new York Stadium and Leisure Complex opening later this year.
Outdated traffic signals at the junction of Kathryn Avenue and Jockey Lane at Monks Cross are set to be replaced by City of York Council.
Works will start on Monday 29 April and are estimated to take around four weeks to complete. The hours of working will be 7.30am – 5.30pm, Monday to Friday and 9am – 3pm on Saturdays.
The new technology being installed will help to ease congestion in the area and enable the new systems to link direct to the council’s Traffic and Control Centre, so that Network Monitoring Officers can manage the flow of traffic better in busy periods.
As with any construction work, there is likely to be a certain amount of disruption. Residents are assured that everything reasonably possible will be done to keep this to a minimum.
During the works it is anticipated that all bus services will operate as normal, however there will be delays when travelling through the junction.
Temporary crossing points will be available at all times during the works to ensure that all pedestrian crossings that are currently available are maintained. Traffic marshals will be on site between 7am and 7pm, seven days a week to assist with pedestrians crossing the road.
Residents are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible.
Bus services will be operating as normal for the majority of the works but passengers are requested to visit www.itravelyork.info/ for more information.
Ageing and outdated traffic signals at the Walmgate junction with the Inner Ring Road are set to be replaced in the New Year by City of York Council.
Works are estimated to take around six weeks to complete – between Sunday 6 January and Friday 15 February.
New, more reliable, traffic signals will be installed on the junction of Walmgate / Barbican Road / Foss Islands Road and Lawrence Street (Walmgate Bar). This junction was last refurbished in 2002.
Pedestrian crossing facilities will also be improved, by widening the islands and improving the cycle lane on Lawrence Street. An early start signal for cyclists will also be installed, coming out of Walmgate Bar, to provide them with priority coming out of town.
As with any construction work, there is likely to be a certain amount of disruption. Residents are assured that everything reasonably possible will be done to keep this to a minimum. During most of the works, except when Walmgate is closed during the weekends identified below, all routes will be kept open. However, there will be lane closures on some approaches to the junction reducing capacity. Motorists should expect significant delays and plan their journey accordingly.
To help minimise this disruption and complete the works as quickly as possible, work will be carried out from 7.30am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 8am – 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
The left turn from Walmgate on to Foss Islands Road will be prohibited during the works, diversion routes will be in place. Walmgate will be closed at the Bar on Sunday 6 January to allow for preliminary site works to be undertaken. Walmgate will also be closed on the weekends of 12 / 13 and 19 / 20 January to allow the works on the approach to be undertaken safely.
During the works it is anticipated that all bus services will operate as normal, however there will be delays when travelling through the junction.
When Walmgate is fully closed at the bar buses which normally use this route will need to be diverted. Information regarding the diverted routes will be posted at www.itravelyork.info/
Temporary crossing points will be available at all times during the works to ensure that all pedestrian crossings that are currently available are maintained. Traffic marshals will be on site between 7am and 7pm, seven days a week to assist with pedestrians crossing the road.
The five year traffic signal asset renewal programme was given the green light by the councillor responsible for transport and planning in November 2015 at a public meeting.
The total replacement programme will cost £2.620m over six years and will be funded through the capital programme budget and the existing Local Transport Plan budget.
Residents are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible. Bus services will be operating as normal for the majority of the works but passengers are requested to visitwww.itravelyork.info/for more information.
The works for Walmgate have been coordinated alongside the works for Stonebow, Fossgate and Pavement to minimise disruption and inconvenience, and at a time which the council understands is the quietest time of the year for businesses.
This year to date (1st Jan to 3rd Dec) there have been a total of 696 traffic signal faults reported to the York Council’s maintenance contractors.
This number was 678 for the same period last year.
The Council does not have a means of recording the total duration for which signals have been out of operation; however, for high priority faults in this period – which are recorded in their own indicator – 91% were resolved within 4 hours, compared to 82% for the same period last year.
Marygate car park
Barrier faults have occurred during a total of 17 days since they were introduced at the Marygate car park. Currently income from the car park is less than it was when operated on a pay and display basis.
Income from the Marygate car park, from the start of July to the end of October, totalled £231,000 in 2014/15.
The equivalent figure for 2013/14 was £246,000.
The York Council spent £100,000 installing the barrier system at Marygate.
NB. The Council has admitted that due to faults on its automated vehicle counting systems it doesn’t know how many motorists have taken advantage of the free parking offer which is available at some car parks from Thursday to Saturday.
Overall income from car parking is, however, over £400,000 below budgeted levels.
The York Council has admitted that traffic signal faults have more than doubled in the period between April and October 2013.
299 faults were reported with a total “downtime” of 804 hours.
This compares to a total of 790 hours (573 faults) during the whole of the last financial year.
The Council blames serious cabling faults caused by damaged and flooded ducts.
The information was obtained by Cllr Ann Reid who took up the issue at last weeks York Council meeting
However, recent problems seem to have extended the capacity of the repair and maintenance contractors and motorists will be looking for a long term improvement.
Yesterday there was near grid lock conditions in the Foss Islands Road area following the failure of two sets of lights.
The seemingly endless series of faults on York’s traffic lights and signalised pedestrian crossings will be questioned at the Council meeting on 10th October.
Residents were particularly concerned when the pelican crossing on Front Street was faulty for several days last week.
The London solution
The Council has not published any reliability statistics on traffic lights for over 2 years.
The response time targets for the Council’s maintenance contractor have also not been published
Cllr Ann Reid will ask the transport chief
“How many faults have been reported on traffic signals in York so far this year and what is the total time that signals have been out of service? How does this compare to the equivalent period last year?”
It is 6 months since the Council opened its new £300,000 CCTV control centre and put traffic camera icons on its web based congestion map.
In July the Council accepted that the move had been premature although the North Yorkshire Council has had similar camera access available for many years. Assurances were given that the links would go live shortly.
3 months later and the links still aren’t working.
Liberal Democrat Councillors have therefore tabled a question asking, “Why is the feed from the traffic cameras to the “itravel” York web site map still not working despite the assurances given at the July Council meeting? “
