Unforeseen consequences

It seems I can't travel down Vale Road in a morning and not have someone try to cross the three-lane road. As normal I blamed the pedestrian footbridge that got built across the canal; and then it struck me it was because of the footbridge.

Yeah I know duh isn't that what you've just said, well yes but all the pieces just slotted together. The only reason to try to cross the road right after coming out of Mitton Close is because you can now continue straight across the Lidl car-park and over the bridge and into Lombard Street where the school, Tesco and Co-op are. Prior to the bridge you had to walk around to the top and bottom of Vale Road which is where the drop kerbs and splitter triangles are situated.

By linking up the town to the Lidl via the pedestrian access it also created a new gateway from the Lidl side to the town which is why people are risking lives crossing a three-lane road rather than walk around the edges.

In the same way I can predict that creating the Basin Link and directing people through or to Coopers Lane will result in more people simply crossing the road at that point rather than walking up to the crossing. I say more because the number who stand outside either pub and try to cross the road there is bad enough.

You can't put up railings because it's a vehicular access so the only solution I can see is one I've suggested before - fitting a subway under the bridge at that end. The path already exists at one end and can be easily extended at the other, arches in the bridge already exist and people already duck underneath them to get from one side to the other, the only problem I foresee is with drainage.

Okay enough about that what I'm talking about is the knock-on effects that don't get seen, like the canal bridge that results in more people trying to cross a road we also have the houses at the end of Worcester Road on the site of the old pub that's resulted in more traffic trying to join just before the OGL island and more traffic trying to turn right into it.

Having to judge two oncoming lanes of traffic to turn right and being unable to do so if there's a car in that road anyway due to the narrowing means a hold-up. As that lane is also too narrow due to a cock-up in measurements when it was relaid this builds up traffic around the island, shunts back to Gilgal, which shunts back to Vale Road, which passes through the town. Just because more people are using a particular road.

Oh and yes I've already suggested that it's switched to just two lanes with a short right-turn lane taking up the slot left by removing the island's unnecessary and partially dangerous right-turn lane.

See it's all about thinking in isolation, the footbridge is a good example of this, but the traffic lights at the top of Vale Road present this better.

As I've mentioned many times the merger system on Gilgal doesn't work well especially in the mornings and this is due to the amount of traffic joining it from these traffic lights. And that's because the flow never stops, there's a small delay when they change over and a larger delay when you have traffic coming from the church and going straight or right; otherwise the flow never ceases. In isolation this is fair, if you don't have to have an exit empty then you seet it up so you don't but coupled with roads further on a hiatus is needed.

Ah well when (not if) the town becomes grid-locked someone will then try to sort it out.