£139m tunnel bypass plan

7:33am Saturday 31st March 2007

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An ambitious idea to build a £139m bypass - which tunnels under the world heritage village of Saltaire and part of Shipley town centre - has been revealed.

Work could start in 2014 if the concept can secure enough Government cash.

The bypass, which is only at concept stage, has been tentatively unveiled by Bradford Council's head of major works, Steve Barton, at the launch of a new business-based lobby group called Action Airedale.

The coalition of businesses from across the district, Craven and Lancashire, has pledged to put pressure on influential organisations including the Regional Transport Board which has an impact on Government spending.

A bypass for Saltaire is just one of a number of schemes being looked at by the Council to ease congestion on Airedale's roads. Other improvements might include a Shipley Eastern Link Road, work to ease congestion on Canal Road and enhancements at Saltaire roundabout.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, Bradford Council's transport portfolio holder - who pushed for the setting-up of Action Airedale along with Shipley MP Philip Davies - said the lobby group was ready to make an impact.

"We need to rattle some cages and make the Government aware there is a real transport need here. The direction we need to take is to collectively impress on them we need these improvements for the sake of our economy," she said.

And she was backed by Mr Davies who said: "There is a big vision at Bradford Council to develop Airedale's transport network and I support that. These plans are absolutely essential to our district's economy." But he said the improvements would take "a monumental effort" to deliver and urged the Council to be honest with its timescales and not to make promises it could not keep.

If it went ahead, a suggested route for the Saltaire bypass would start south of Shipley railway station before tunnelling under part of a cliff face and under the town centre, surfacing at Saltaire Road before going underground once again near allotments at Saltaire train station. It would not go under any houses or Salts Mill.

The tunnel would then resurface on the other side of the station onto a road down Hirst Lane, going through woodland near Nab Wood cemetery before joining the A650.

Shipley councillor Martin Love (Green) said the idea of the Saltaire bypass was "horrendous".

He said: "A lot of the area alongside the river is designated wash land, which acts as a buffer between the river and the houses in the event of flooding. The Environment Agency has some very strict rules if you want to build on wash land. You would have to build on an alternative site - and there aren't any.

"I do not think it's feasible and the people who are proposing this would come up against a lot of public opposition. If that kind of money was available to be spent in the Aire Valley it could be spent on better things. Think what you could do with £139 million on public transport."

Aire Valley Rail Users' Group chairman Tim Calow said: "It's a lot of money. If that kind of money was available it would be better spent in Airedale on the railway, where there are requirements for more trains to carry the people who are using the line. That has wider benefits in terms of the environment.

"We would much prefer to see investment in the railway. For that amount of money you could buy a fleet of more than 100 carriages. We have a railway that's enormously successful in Airedale, particularly travelling in and out of Leeds, but fewer people are using the train to get in and out of Bradford."

Shipley Councillor Hawarun Hussain (Green) said none of the Shipley councillors had been invited to yesterday's meeting.

But having attended anyway, Coun Hussain said: "You would think, if something was being planned for the future of Shipley, people from Shipley would be included.

"It's not good news. Nobody has ever built themselves out of a traffic jam. When Bingley bypass was built it increased the vehicles using the A650 by 10,000 a day. It meant people who were not using their cars because of traffic jams started using them again.

"If this new road and tunnels are built it will not reduce the traffic - it will just move it to somewhere else.

"On Wednesday the same councillors launched Bradford as an eco-city to try to increase recycling and reduce car usage. This goes totally against that. We do not need any more roads. We need people to start thinking about their journeys and start looking at alternatives."

Shorter-term plans are also being drawn up to replace congestion-hit Saltaire roundabout with a new junction controlled by lights in a £2.6m bid to cut the traffic queues.

The Council and the Highways Agency have reached an agreement to try to reduce jams on the A650 and it would mean a buy-up of land next to the roundabout to create the junction.

It follows talks in January with Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman, who agreed in principle to fund half the costs. The Council will meet the remaining costs and is talking about 2009 as a possible date for the works to take place.

The funding was brokered in return for a withdrawal of the Council's objection to detrunking the A650. The Highways Agency had previously offered the Council £800,000 to take over the road from Steeton to Frizinghall. But the Council objected claiming the amount was too small. A Highways Agency study into Shipley, Saltaire and Baildon's traffic problems came up with three plans for the choked-up Saltaire roundabout. But only one - considered the most dramatic - was likely to ease congestion, at a cost of £565,000. As a result the Council has come up with the new proposal which it considers to be better.

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