THE scheme to ban through traffic from Park Street has been given the go-ahead by city councillors despite objections from traders and opposition councillors.
Work is now due to start this October on the £15 million government-funded project, which stretches from the bottom of Whiteladies Road to the Centre, and includes widening pavements, installing bike lanes, and stopping general traffic from driving through Park Street.
Cars will still be allowed to access the street via side roads, and park there too. The giant roundabout at the bottom of Whiteladies Road will be turned into a smaller junction.
Some local business owners have said reducing traffic would “kill Park Street”.
Conservative councillors on the transport policy committee warned the traffic could instead be displaced on to Park Row and past the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
Councillor Mark Weston, leader of the Conservative group, said: “Traffic flows like water. Once you start stopping it up, it then moves into random directions. We’re creating a problem, we’re not solving it, we’re just moving it. We need to have a resilient road network where traffic can flow, not constantly keep limiting the roads that are available to use.”
This was disputed by Green councillors, who said the changes would influence people to behave differently in how they travel. Cutting bus journey times might encourage more people to use public transport instead of driving in a private car, for example. At the moment, buses often get delayed driving down Park Street in the afternoon rush hour, due to volume of traffic.
Green Cllr Rob Bryher said: “There’s been lots of literature that shows if you restrict through-traffic, then traffic just evaporates. It’s part of transport planning that everyone understands.”
An alternative route for drivers coming from the Bearpit roundabout, will be along Upper Maudlin Street, past the hospital, and up Park Row. But this route is already congested and suffers from high levels of air pollution. A key reason this is congested is due to a lack of capacity at the roundabout, but the Park Street scheme could actually help this.
According to Adam Crowther, head of city transport, there will be less traffic going through Lewins Mead, which creates extra capacity at the Bearpit. This would in turn help traffic flow along Park Row and Upper Maudlin St. He added that electric buses planned for Bristol will help reduce air pollution, and drivers are upgrading to cleaner vehicles too.
Another concern, however , was the new bike lanes. A new two-way segregated lane will be built along Queens Road, protecting cyclists from cars and buses, but meaning people cycling south down the hill will have to cross over the road at the bottom of Whiteladies, and again at the Park Street end of Queens Road too. There are no bike lanes planned for Park Street itself.
Lib Dem Cllr Nicholas Coombes said: “Would this scheme help me cycle from Queens Road down to Park Street? Actually it wouldn’t. I would expect a consistent cycle route for the cost of £15 million going from one end to the other.”
The transport committee voted to approve the plans. Greens voted in favour, Labour abstained, and the single Conservative and Lib Dem councillors voted against it.
But there is a final hurdle. The council must submit the full business case to the West of England Combined Authority for approval. On May 1, voters will head to the polls to elect a new mayor for the West of England, and one candidate has spoken out against the Park Street plans.
After the meeting Steve Smith, a former city councillor and the Conservative hopeful, said: “The business community have been very clear — this scheme will damage trade for local independent businesses and potentially force them to leave. ”
Despite the vocal opposition from some business owners, only 315 people have signed a petition against the changes. The threshold to spark a council debate is 3,500 signatures. Meanwhile, the extra space for pedestrians has prompted some local venues to consider putting on a new arts festival.
Green Cllr Ed Plowden, chair of the transport committee, said: “I’ve met with some of the biggest people like at the Hippodrome, St George’s, and the BID. Next week I’ll be meeting with some of the smaller traders, in order to listen to their concerns as well. Victoria Rooms, the Royal West Academy and St George’s are talking about some kind of arts festival, and they feel that the space is there that they can use now, rather than having a great big racetrack in front of the beautiful statues and architecture.”
By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service