Report 11 on
progress leading towards the re-opening of the bridge
Highway
layout over the bridge
The initial highway layout over the bridge proposed
in progress report 7 (issued April 2008) consisted of a 4.5m carriageway for
single way traffic and traffic signals, a 1.7m footway and a 3.0 m footway (now
without a dedicated cycleway), all within the width of the existing highway.
Following discussions with representatives of Colwall Parish Council there was
a request to consider an alternative layout with two vehicle lanes over the
bridge.
As stated in report
10 in view of the strong concerns that have been expressed and the permanent
nature of the work deliberations on the layout have sought to ensure that the
decision made will be the correct one giving consideration to all the relevant
factors related to safety issues, traffic flows and the environmental aspects
of the site.
Herefordshire Council seeks to provide Colwall with a
bridge within a network that provides an efficient traffic flow without prejudice to
the safety issues particularly of non-motorists. In order to meet
these aspirations a fully detailed investigation and report was commissioned
and subsequently presented by the Director of Environment and Culture to the Cabinet
Member for Highways and Transportation on 4 February 2009.
In the report two highway
options were considered namely:
·
Single way – traffic controlled working across the bridge with widened
footways
·
Two way – narrowing of carriageway providing widened footways
The Parish Council, through
their consultant, had also submitted proposals for two way operation that have
been reviewed.
The report recommended that having considered the
benefits and disbenefits of both two way and single way arrangements (including
options proposed by Parish Council), a single way traffic controlled option
across the bridge is adopted and this has been up held by the Cabinet Member
for Highways and Transportation
Reasons given in the report for the recommendation were:
·
To
ensure appropriate highway layout taking into account the design constraints
and safety.
·
Single
way traffic control across the bridge will remove any risk of vehicle conflict
associated with the two way option allowing localised improvements for non
motorised users.
·
Two
way options were considered (both Council design and options submitted by
Parish Council) but were be discounted due to the significant risk of vehicle
conflict and accidents they introduce onto network.
An
associated benefit would be that in overall terms, average speed of vehicles
travelling through the village would be reduced with negligible impact on
vehicle delay.
The investigation included
a Road Safety Audit that identified the following main risks:
·
Reduced carriageway width would increase vehicle conflicts for the two
way option,
·
Mitigating measures would be required for the two way option to raise
driver awareness of alignment changes and to maintain an appropriate approach
speed, Vehicle speeds recorded in June 2004 prior to traffic signals first
being introduced found the design speed was 42 mph recorded by the entrance to
the school,
·
Overlapping paths of vehicles on the narrow sections of carriageway in
the two way option could result in vehicle strikes and that adequate clearance needs
to be available for appropriate size vehicles during two way movements,
·
Poor provision at the traffic signals to accommodate equestrians and
cyclists could result in accidents and therefore it is recommended that adequate
signal timing is available to take account of their movements
·
During the development of the options key stakeholders were asked for
their views. The Parish Council strongly stated their preference for a two way
option, and a referendum in Colwall also supported the two way option. Representations
in support of a single way traffic controlled option were received from Coca
Cola, the Ledbury Area Cycle Forum and the governors of
The main two options
developed to provide benefits to non motorised users and the benefits /
concerns can be summarised in the following table.
|
Option |
Description |
Benefit |
Disadvantages |
|
Single Way |
Traffic signals to
control vehicle movements across a narrow carriageway allowing the footway to
be widened |
Improves footway for pedestrians Calms vehicles speeds in
vicinity of bridge Can accommodate
equestrians and cyclists safely |
Increased journey time
for drivers Cyclists would have to
start on a steep hill ‘Urbanisation’ of rural
village suggested by some |
|
Two Way (including consideration
of Parish Council proposals) |
Narrowing the carriageway
to nominally 6.0m –6.5m to allow the footway to be widened |
Improves footway for
pedestrians Avoids marginal delay to
vehicles associated with traffic signals |
Risk of vehicle conflict
due to narrow carriageway Does not address high
vehicle speeds and could result in increase Would require traffic
calming on approaches to reduce speeds to comply with prevailing speed limit |
If Herefordshire Council
allowed a two way flow of traffic knowing that there were safety concerns, and
without erecting warning notices, there is always the possibility that there
might be a successful claim for personal injury or damage to property should
there be an accident, which could be proved to have been caused by the fact
that a two way traffic flow was in operation when conditions perhaps merited a
one way flow. It therefore could be
considered potentially negligent of the Council to introduce a scheme that does
not take account of these concerns.
In summary as there are
significant safety risks that have been identified in relation to the two way
options as outlined above it was recommended that the single way traffic
controlled proposal be adopted to ensure the safety of all road users. The detailed highway design will be is
progressed to meet with the Network Rail programme for the bridge.
For further
information please contact Herefordshire Council, Highways, Unit 3 Thorn
Business Park, Rotherwas, Hereford, HR2 6JT, Telephone 01432 261800, email streets@herefordshire.gov.uk,
website www.herefordshire.gov.uk
This sheet can also
be obtained from the Colwall Parish Council website www.colwall.net and
from the Herefordshire
Weekly update reports
on the progress of the bridgeworks are provided by Network Rail and posted at
the site. Network Rail’s national helpline number is 08457 114141