Deadline for comments is today!
I wrote the following in ten minutes, which you can tell by reading it (it wouldn't win me a Nobel prize in literature unless that whole stream of consciousness thing comes back into fashion). But there's no problem with poorly written and badly structured comments as long as we all get our opinions in!
I very much welcome the principles behind the changes to the Causey. I walk or cycle between Montague Street and George square several times a week, at present I rarely use the Causey since it's unpleasant and car dominated, but hope that the proposed changes will really lift the area. I saw the public information board from the Causey Development Trust displayed on West Cross Causeway and went along to one of their information evenings, I really like the ideas behind what they are trying to do.
That said, when the detailed designs came out there were several aspects that I think are disappointing. The removal of the bus stop on Chapel Street seems unnecessary, it is already the case that when a bus stops there at rush hour traffic behind has no option but to sit and wait, so I don't see why narrowing the road should mean that the bus stops can't be maintained.
I'm also disappointed to see the cycle lanes on Chapel Street removed. Chapel Street is very busy and I don't think that raised tables and road narrowing will slow traffic enough, the road is still wide enough for two buses to pass each other on a corner, which means that it's wide enough for general traffic to travel quite quickly, very stressful if cyclists are in the main stream of traffic. I would like to see vehicle speeds reduced by the removal of the centre line of the road (which forces drivers to pay attention) and possibly the introduction of a zebra crossing across Chapel Street at the Causey. Pavements definitely need widening, but hopefully the uphill cycle lane at least can be maintained.
I know that a local resident is campaigning to keep the Causey open to through traffic. I saw their leaflet, and thought that their point about the Chapel Street cycle lane and about forbidding loading by large vehicles on West Cross Causeway were well made. Most of their points however were about residents parking and maintenance of West Cross Causeway as a through route, I very strongly disagree with this. By pedestrianising the Causey this project will turn a busy rat run into a really nice space, I think it would be a great shame if that central ambition were derailed by the concerns of car drivers on the street. As their leaflet points out, there are over eighty residences on the street, I suspect that very few of those residences belong to people who own a car...
posts
