Waits at Colchester's North Station Roundabout set to drag on (From Gazette)
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Waits at Colchester's North Station Roundabout set to drag on
4:17pm Wednesday 19th December 2012 in News
Waits at Colchester's North Station Roundabout set to drag on
HIGHWAYS chiefs have rejected calls to tackle congestion at Colchester’s most notorious roundabout.
Motorists frequently find themselves stuck on North Station Roundabout, while shoppers sometimes take 45 minutes to get out of nearby Turner Rise and the Asda supermarket.
Local councillors, supported by Asda, believe the timings of the traffic lights, which were set in 2006, are now out-of-date and are fuelling delays.
See Thursday's Gazette for the full story
Comments(20)
Checkout
says...
4:40pm Wed 19 Dec 12
I'm not a traffic engineer and cannot suggest a valid solution. I'd suggest we urgently need to commission experts to examine the situation and give some helpful advice.
Since no one else is likely to do this, perhaps CBC have to grasp the nettle.
Arthur Fonzarelli
says...
4:48pm Wed 19 Dec 12
Toneloc
says...
5:03pm Wed 19 Dec 12
Arthur Fonzarelli wrote:Not sure how that would help the congestion that is caused by shoppers, by the residents of the new housing that keeps appearing in North Colchester, and by the cars that will be coming into town from the final phase of the northern approach road, linking into the new A12 junction. The commuters getting off at Colchester North are a small part of the problem - the high car park fees take care of that.
Build four new railway stations at Stanway, St.Johns/Parsons Heath, University and Ardleigh.
greenbroker
says...
5:17pm Wed 19 Dec 12
Arthur Fonzarelli is right in what he says about new rail stations. The authorities a making the situation worse by concentrating traffic in that area.
We need we need some drastic action. It must be the worst traffic junction in the South England.
Brooks Forbutox
says...
6:59pm Wed 19 Dec 12
jut1972
says...
8:39pm Wed 19 Dec 12
The congestion is at the roundabout and under the bridge. There is no room for a bus lane there.
A full bus is what 20 - 30 cars off the road? With the traffic at north station that equates to about ten - twenty seconds worth.
Its the spineless leadership at ECC and CBC thats to blame for this. No agreement on funding for the park and ride, bus lane years late (not that it will make any odds), thousands more houses being built and the travel strategy response? people should use bikes.
A practical suggestion that could be implemented immediately is for Asda to put someone on the roundabout and guide the traffic out of the car park and onto Petrolea way when necessary. The only reason they dont is legally they arent enabled to control the traffic but as its private property that doesnt apply.
Go on gossy kick Turrell out and take charge, we need some new blood!
crazy comments
says...
8:52pm Wed 19 Dec 12
Boris wrote:Your dead right Boris.
The best thing they can do is avoid aggravating the problem by vetoing the building of even a single new house north of North Station. Fat chance of that.
Brooks Forbutox
says...
12:05pm Thu 20 Dec 12
Red Tape 2
says...
12:15pm Thu 20 Dec 12
Brooks Forbutox wrote:Reliable. Quick. Cheap - Hmmm don't know where you travel from but I wouldn't exactly describe that as my personal experience of the bus service....
Waddya mean? No room for a bus lane? Just take two of the four lanes for general traffic. Extend bus priority between the hospital, town centre and the university. Reliable. Quick. Cheap. And driving ain't any of those.
Red Tape 2
says...
12:18pm Thu 20 Dec 12
Brooks Forbutox
says...
2:22pm Thu 20 Dec 12
Red Tape 2 wrote:@red tape - not necessarily now, more in the future
Brooks Forbutox wrote:Reliable. Quick. Cheap - Hmmm don't know where you travel from but I wouldn't exactly describe that as my personal experience of the bus service....
Waddya mean? No room for a bus lane? Just take two of the four lanes for general traffic. Extend bus priority between the hospital, town centre and the university. Reliable. Quick. Cheap. And driving ain't any of those.
romantic
says...
4:43pm Thu 20 Dec 12
There is no easy solution to this while so many people drive into the town. The bridge widened at the station just means more traffic hitting the next roads along. Building any connecting roads such as NAR direct to Cowdray Avenue is a massive venture and would mean demolishing some houses etc.
Like it or not, people have to move away from cars. Bit by bit, not everyone can do it, but lots of people could cut their reliance on the car. If you drive your child to school, maybe they could walk. Catch a bus sometimes: if you park in town, the cost is probably more than a Dayrover ticket. I used to drive everywhere, I know how it is. The car is now gone, and actually, it´s not that hard. It´s saved me a fortune and cycling makes me far fitter.
40 people on a bus means less cars on that road. jut1972 argues that it is just a few seconds worth of cars, which is true when the traffic is flowing freely. The point of this atricle is that it does not flow freely, not at peak times. Look at the space occupied by one bus against 20 cars, that is how we really need to compare them.
If you are in gridlock, you are part of the cause! Ditch the car, even just for some journeys!
Brooks Forbutox
says...
7:28pm Thu 20 Dec 12
om/2010/06/29/how-mu
ch-street-space-car-
vs-bus-vs-bicycle/
Brooks Forbutox
says...
7:29pm Thu 20 Dec 12
jut1972
says...
10:54pm Thu 20 Dec 12
The leadership at CBC needs to take a long hard look at itself, well meaning people I am sure but they are not up to the job. If ECC have not agreed to look at this issue then get back in their faces until they do. We kowtow to ECC far too much.
Boris
says...
12:45am Fri 21 Dec 12
Boris
says...
1:00am Fri 21 Dec 12
crazy comments wrote:Thanks, crazy. It's good when we agree, which is quite often really. Best wishes to you and everyone else for Xmas and New Year, and let's hope we see a lot more of John White as the U's turn their season round and make sure they stay up.
Boris wrote:Your dead right Boris.
The best thing they can do is avoid aggravating the problem by vetoing the building of even a single new house north of North Station. Fat chance of that.
romantic
says...
9:49am Fri 21 Dec 12
Brooks Forbutox wrote:Interesting link, and interesting comments afterwards. Thanks for that, Brooks Forbutox.
You're right, Romantic. Check this: http://consumerist.c
om/2010/06/29/how-mu
ch-street-space-car-
vs-bus-vs-bicycle/
jut1972
says...
4:39pm Sat 22 Dec 12
Boris wrote:Spot on. ECC runs rings round the CBC leadership. The CBC leaders both at a cabinet and CEO level are completely invisible.
Several of our CBC councillors are also councillors on ECC, including Anne Turrell and Lyn Barton. Their party is in opposition there, but why do we never ever hear of them speaking up for Colchester at County Hall? There is plenty of scope for cross-party negotiation on projects like this, but they do not appear to possess the elementary political skills to engage with the Tories there, who have the power to change things to everyone's benefit.
Boris says...
4:25pm Wed 19 Dec 12