Through traffic to be banned in parts of Bristol for ‘liveable neighbourhood’ scheme

TBH the west (Barton Hill) part of the scheme looks like a much larger change than the east (Beaufort Rd) part. Some drivers living in the west will add a couple of kilometres to their journeys including some very congested sections, unless they switch modes. The planners have tried to accommodate this by allowing e.g care workers' cars through the bus gates, maybe that will prove the right balance in the long term.

When I first saw the scheme plans I did honestly wonder if it would be better to designate Avonvale Rd and Marsh Lane as boundary roads and furnish them appropriately. But of course that would mean taking away much of the car parking, so also controversial.

Evening Post wrote:

“We didn’t know they were coming, but somebody dropped a message on our WhatsApp and people just came out of their homes to stop this,” said Melissa Topping, who is in a wheelchair and lives at Victoria Avenue. She said the Liveable Neighbourhood would cause her huge issues with driving her large adapted car back home on the only route left to reach her house - down a narrow side road into her ‘LTN zone’.

“A couple of the workers completely understood where we were coming from when we explained that this would make things so much harder for the residents to get about,” she said. “We just told them that we weren’t going to be moving, so they would have to go away again, and they did. We were peaceful and they were very nice, and we do feel sorry for them, because they are only trying to do their job, but we can’t let this happen here,” she added.

“There are people who have to take their children to two or three different schools and then get to work. It’s simply not practical for people who need to drive and live around here, and the traffic is much much worse on the roads that everyone is now being funnelled down,” she added.

Ms Topping said she fully expected the council and its contractors to come back at some stage. “People power does work, but they are going to come back and we can’t be everywhere to stop this from happening,” she said. “We know they are going to come back, probably in the middle of the night, or something.”

Neighbourhood: you can't change anything because we have a disabled resident!  Also driving children to schools!  People power!

Also neighbourhood: continue driving and parking everywhere making it a PITA (or sometimes more) for the disabled resident, and not safe enough for children to walk or cycle to school.  "Lots of people" power (occasionally sympathetic, well meaning but generally I have to drive / park right here now so it's someone else's problem).

hawkinspeter wrote:

slc wrote:

More stuff: now we have some bus gates on Avonvale Rd and Pilemarsh. I have been looking at fixmystreet to see if anyone complains (or applauds) the LTN features, and this amused me

https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/6729314

It shows a brand new 'no motor vehicles sign' hidden behind vegetation. 

Why didn't they clip the vegetation back? It can easily be challenged if the sign is obscured.

Are you quite mad? They're the sign installation department - not the hedge clipping department. Where would we be if every Tom, Dick, and Harry took it on themselves to go around clipping hedges? It would be chaos!

mdavidford wrote:

Are you quite mad? They're the sign installation department - not the hedge clipping department. Where would we be if every Tom, Dick, and Harry took it on themselves to go around clipping hedges? It would be chaos!

<sucks teeth>  "Ah, well, you 'ave a point but it'd be moranmejobswurf"

brooksby wrote:

mdavidford wrote:

Are you quite mad? They're the sign installation department - not the hedge clipping department. Where would we be if every Tom, Dick, and Harry took it on themselves to go around clipping hedges? It would be chaos!

<sucks teeth>  "Ah, well, you 'ave a point but it'd be moranmejobswurf"

I have sympathy for the sign installation guy. The vegetation is overhang from a private garden, so the sign guy may well be instructed to report only.

Incidentally, the bus gate enforcement will not begin right away. Apparently there will be some variable signs notifying that.

hawkinspeter wrote:

slc wrote:

It didn't take long! My second time through and came across a delivery van driver mounting the pavement to get around the modal filter at the bottom of Beaufort Rd. He was quite apologetic but also seemed to think he had no option, even though the delivery address was right next to the filter.

Just the other day, Mrs HawkinsPeter remarked that our road seemed a lot quieter without all the rat-running and there's notably more traffic queues along Blackswarth Road (possibly also Church Road though I think that may already be saturated).

Meanwhile, here's a positive reaction to the planters that I saw being deployed next to St George's Park:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/news-opinion/can-streets-anti-van-dweller-9696482

(I've got mixed feelings about moving on van dwellers, but they were taking over that section of the park which isn't really fair on other residents around there)

I saw that article - people saying 'can we have those planters everywhere to stop pavement parking' - but I suspect that the writers meant 'can we have those planters everywhere to stop other people pavement parking'

brooksby wrote:

I saw that article - people saying 'can we have those planters everywhere to stop pavement parking' - but I suspect that the writers meant 'can we have those planters everywhere to stop other people pavement parking'

Driving is the best thing in the world, if it weren't for all those other drivers parking antisocially, parking in "our" spot, pulling in and out when we want to get through, driving poorly, making unnecessary journeys and causing congestion ... not to mention all the pollution they generate, the damage they do crashing into things AND the potholes they cause.

If only they'd just stop and let us get on with it... (also see the cycle-centric version of "if only we removed all the dangerous / bad drivers we'd have no problems on the roads / people would be happy to cycle there (instead)").

brooksby wrote:

hawkinspeter wrote:

slc wrote:

It didn't take long! My second time through and came across a delivery van driver mounting the pavement to get around the modal filter at the bottom of Beaufort Rd. He was quite apologetic but also seemed to think he had no option, even though the delivery address was right next to the filter.

Just the other day, Mrs HawkinsPeter remarked that our road seemed a lot quieter without all the rat-running and there's notably more traffic queues along Blackswarth Road (possibly also Church Road though I think that may already be saturated).

Meanwhile, here's a positive reaction to the planters that I saw being deployed next to St George's Park:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/news-opinion/can-streets-anti-van-dweller-9696482

(I've got mixed feelings about moving on van dwellers, but they were taking over that section of the park which isn't really fair on other residents around there)

I saw that article - people saying 'can we have those planters everywhere to stop pavement parking' - but I suspect that the writers meant 'can we have those planters everywhere to stop other people pavement parking'

It looks to me as though pavement parking on Beaufort Road has increased since the filters arrived. Perhaps drivers think that it is OK now that the through traffic is gone.

It wouldn't work at all where wtjs lives. That bloke with the no-MOT monster truck would  barge them (edit:the planters) out of the way while the cops applauded.

It wouldn't work at all where wtjs lives

True- nothing works here owing to the determinedly anti-cyclist police b******s. This is the Stagecoach 42 bus this afternoon

https://upride.cc/incident/sk19evw_stagecoach42_closepass/

hawkinspeter wrote:

wtjs wrote:

This is an interesting topic- it's good to see somewhere making some progress against the Tory/ Torygraph/ hyper-junk Mail-inspired routine Two Minute Hates in various parts of the country

It's about time - I created this topic back in 2023 and the scheme was supposed to be implemented towards the end of 2023. Still, better late than never. I wonder how much our Green-led council influenced this.

I notice that they've backpedalled (geddit!) a lot on Doing Something about pavement parking in Bristol, though.

Big heavy plant pots beat paint and signs any day of the week. Also they avoid being "for bloody cyclists - and I've only seen 3 this week" while potentially being very effective creating conditions where more people might cycle (or at least consider not driving that trip).

hawkinspeter wrote:

...and now residents have been 'let down' by traffic scheme before it even starts: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/residents-let-down-traffic-scheme-9504500

Good to see some LTN opposition classics.

"How can I achieve X when my road will be closed"

"Councils should fix the buses before introducing any limitations on cars"

"Councils should fix the NHS/schools/other things that definitely could be improved but are separate issues from traffic, before trying to reduce traffic"

I use the same road every day. My usual experience is drivers failing to give way through the chicanes (I guess you have to pay road tax for priority to apply), but that route to the station also demonstrates the effectiveness of modal filters - imagine the ratrunning  if drivers could make it through Queen Ann road to the station.