Green light for solving bottleneck? (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Green light for solving bottleneck?
10:47am Friday 5th March 2010 in
The problem of traffic congestion at Saltaire roundabout has often been highlighted in this newspaper and there is no doubt that something has to be done to tackle one of the district’s major bottlenecks.
However, any suggestions to alleviate the problem must be realistic, especially in this economic climate.
There is little doubt, for example, that grandiose schemes such as a tunnel carrying through traffic under Saltaire, with a price tag of well over £100m, are unlikely to happen any time soon.
However, the authorities still have a not-inconsiderable sum to spend on this most pressing of problems and have now put forward proposals for public consultation.
Even a quick glance at the artist’s impressions reveals that the area would dramatically change if they went ahead.
The biggest difference, of course, would be the absence of the roundabout, which is no bad thing.
Relying on the volume of vehicles on the incoming roads and drivers behaving properly to regulate traffic flow has just not worked here.
Traffic lights, on the other hand, would bring a degree of control to proceedings and could be varied depending on the time of day.
However, while these proposals may well improve a bad situation, they cannot change the fundamental fact that too many vehicles are channelled in into an area which is too small to cope.
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nazarw says...
12:30am Wed 10 Mar 10
(Saltaire)
... a simple comment in relation to this problem for drivers commuting into and outside of Bradford via this route...
as mentioned previously, any suggestions to alleviate the problem must be realistic... i hope this includes a moment to realise that the solution should not be to remove the problem from Saltaire and place it elsewhere... ie further down the road in shipley, frizinghall and manningham. There are many that choose to work in Bradford and have probably moved to the more rural and affluent outskirts of the district. They choose to believe they have no choice but to use their cars to commute to work and back home.
Those that genuinely dont need to take their car to work should change their habits and use public transport which in itself needs to be more efficient, safer and cheaper.
Better (non road use) transport links from the Airevalley to central Bradford is the key, most likely a better train service would benefit the majority of the local population who find themselves stuck in the daily traffic jams in and out of Bradford.
So my message to Bradford Council is dont move the problem to another location and maybe identify ways to help commuters think of, and have reliable alternatives, that will genuinely reduce the use of vehicles on roads such as the Saltaire roundabout and connecting roads.
Just my thoughts as a local resident to the saltaire and shipley area.