Lewes Road Traffic Plan

[Seasidesage]

I think the problem with the Vogue is mostly northbound.

The models the officers have used is the A259, and its huge shifting modal patterns. In fact, the figures they use are very conservative in relation to other similar schemes across the country. This only has a hope of working if there were options along the same route - and there are; walking, cycling, buses and trains. It's just about the most catered for route in the city - and that includes the A23.

I've no idea of its success, but I can see this being much better than 'unworkable'.

Because I live around there I really hope you are right, but I fear my version of reality may be closer to the outcome. Walking and Cycling have indeed been taken up but mostly by the student population. The way the town is set out currently, if you want to travel east to west there are only two/three options. 1 The seafront 2. Across the fiveways/millers road and out to old shoreham rd or along the Lewes Rd and out to the bypass. Both routes 2/3 involve travelling in or around the Vogue and around the Bear/Coombe Rd area. Until a suitable alternative is offered this area will always get a very high volume of traffic and reducing the road space available to it will not alter this fact...

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

The buses will no longer pull into lay bys, these will be built out to the road and the cycle lanes will swerve behind the bus stops, hence they will be on an island.

My question is, with buses in one lane and a string of vehicles in the other lane, how will buses overtake each other or will they have to crawl along in convoy as the 1st bus loads/unloads passengers?

 

[GNF on Tour]

The 'Greens' are a disaster for the city. Making the Lewes Road one lane will cause chaos during peak times, even worse than it is now. Drivers will just take alternative routes to avoid the area bringing problems to other areas. I can think of better uses for the money than waste it on this project. Use it for improving hospitals / schools / the homeless / the elderly.

How would you propose "improving the elderly" ?

 

[GNF on Tour]

I posted on the earlier thread about these initiatives being anti-car, and someone said they were more pro-cycle/bus etc., but the bottom line is they are at the expense of private vehicular traffic flow. I know the wordsmiths on here can spin for England, but at least admit this is the case

I'm not familar with the scheme, but I am familar with the term "bus priority" - this may answer your question.

 

[KneeOn]

The only good thing about having these freaks in power is that they're making such a f***-up of it that when we vote them out at the next election the entire country will know they are not to be trusted in any constituency. It's all very nice letting weirdos have their say and creating a minority moment, but actually giving them the chance to make important decisions is setting B&H back ten years.

Black Rock
i360
Further Marina Expansion
King Alfred
Amex
Toad Valley

i'd say that our councils CULTURE is what is setting us back by more than 10 years. I agree the Greens are frankly shite but look at the bigger picture, in Brighton and HOve city - EVERYONE is shite.

 

[KneeOn]

How would you propose "improving the elderly" ?

Racing stripes, a 5.1 surround sound system, Nitros and a full body kit. That'll make them FAR better.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Simple solution for the Vogue Gyratory: move Sainsbury's along to the Preston Barracks site and use the old Sainsbury's site for housing. The traffic then associated with Sainsbury's will not cause the problems it does at a junction of four roads.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

The 'Greens' are a disaster for the city. Making the Lewes Road one lane will cause chaos during peak times, even worse than it is now. Drivers will just take alternative routes to avoid the area bringing problems to other areas. I can think of better uses for the money than waste it on this project. Use it for improving hospitals / schools / the homeless / the elderly.

hospitals are NHS and nothing to do with the council

not sure what you mean by "improving the homeless"? or "improving the elderly"? "the elderly" fall under adult social care, which was the area of the budget that took the biggest hit after the central cut-backs........as for the homeless, it's a big problem in b+h and one that i'm involved with at ground level. The size of the problem means that simply throwing a load of money at it probably isn't the best answer....often the issue is medical (mental health/addiction)...it would help if other cities stopped giving their homeless people one-way train tickets to brighton for a start.

schools in b+h are generally pretty decent aren't they?

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I think you missed out the bit that said "...made a visit to the city where I can bowl up and park where I like in my car so difficult....." - what with Brighton being pretty much the UK's top (internal) travel destination, with tourism in the city growing through the recession what with the 'staycation' of people not going abroad.

But hey ho, never mind statistics when you have informed opinion.

Firstly had a quick search on tourism growth, couldn't find it, maybe its there somewhere. As the "pretty" much UK's top destination, don't think so. Perhaps in the top 25 or so but no where near the top, London, Edinburgh, Lake district, Snowdonia, Blackpool, The dales, York do I need to carry on. I believe your unsubstantiated statistics may have been made up!

Secondly my "informed" opinion is just that, my PERSONAL opinion and one that I myself without any help from anyone else have arrived at over a long period of time, and, having never the desire or need to live in any large town/city.

 

[The Large One]

The 'Greens' are a disaster for the city. Making the Lewes Road one lane will cause chaos during peak times, even worse than it is now. Drivers will just take alternative routes to avoid the area bringing problems to other areas. I can think of better uses for the money than waste it on this project. Use it for improving hospitals / schools / the homeless / the elderly.

As has been said about 46 times, this money is not coming out of council coffers. This is a ring-fenced grant from central government specifically for sustainable transport improvements, and something the council is legally obliged to undertake.

 

[Return of the Rev]

As has been said about 46 times, this money is not coming out of council coffers. This is a ring-fenced grant from central government specifically for sustainable transport improvements, and something the council is legally obliged to undertake.

Could have left it at 46 tbh

 

[The Large One]

Black Rock
i360
Further Marina Expansion
King Alfred
Amex
Toad Valley

i'd say that our councils CULTURE is what is setting us back by more than 10 years. I agree the Greens are frankly shite but look at the bigger picture, in Brighton and HOve city - EVERYONE is shite.

You may have to explain this. For one, the City Council has ALWAYS been supportive of the stadium project, the Greens are the ones who have re-started the i360 project, but I appreciate that's not your central point.

Similarly, moaning about 'culture' is one thing, adhering to national planning laws - a legal obligation - is another.

 

[Brovion]

As has been said about 46 times, this money is not coming out of council coffers. This is a ring-fenced grant from central government specifically for sustainable transport improvements, and something the council is legally obliged to undertake.

I think that's the thing that pisses me off. With regard to the actual development I'm neutral (as a Fiveways resident I was sent a consultation form but didn't return it), in fact I think you've raised most of the best points as well as admitting that the scheme isn't perfect. And I'm sure the number of private cars using Lewes Road will fall - although how much of that will be people using alternative transport and how much will be people using alternative routes will be open to debate.

No, the thing that pisses me off is the concept of 'ring fenced' grants for schemes like this. In these times of austerity these projects should have been the first to go. (I'm slightly biased as my wife is suffering from NHS cuts and this scheme, like all the 'improvement' schemes, will in all probability make her job more stressful - that's if she stays as a district nurse)

 

[Westdene Seagull]

No, the thing that pisses me off is the concept of 'ring fenced' grants for schemes like this. In these times of austerity these projects should have been the first to go. (I'm slightly biased as my wife is suffering from NHS cuts and this scheme, like all the 'improvement' schemes, will in all probability make her job more stressful - that's if she stays as a district nurse)

Spot on. Only because funds are "ring fenced" doesn't suddenly mean the money isn't tax payers money. Stop ring fencing and transfer the money to more worthy budgets such as the NHS.

 

[Notters]

Brighton and Hove Greens warn of pollution risk of Yuletide logs From The Argus)

What's your point? Poor air quality kills an estimated 13,000 people a year in the UK. Don't you think that needs addressing? Only 2,500 are killed in road traffic accidents and look how much is spent on trying to reduce that.

 

[Dover]

Simple solution for the Vogue Gyratory: move Sainsbury's along to the Preston Barracks site and use the old Sainsbury's site for housing. The traffic then associated with Sainsbury's will not cause the problems it does at a junction of four roads.

Spot on! Also there are far too many traffic lights from the bottom of Elm Grove to the Gyratory. I think it's five in total.

 

[The Large One]

Spot on. Only because funds are "ring fenced" doesn't suddenly mean the money isn't tax payers money. Stop ring fencing and transfer the money to more worthy budgets such as the NHS.

Fair enough, to a point - but where does that stop? Using yours and Tim's yardstick, it's not a massive leap to infer from your point that all 'spare' money would go on worthy projects such as the NHS. However, the reality is that you can't have everything thrown at the NHS.

The money is 'ring-fenced' insofar as it's the DfT's budget having to be spent on a project like this, as opposed to new jetpacks for the CEO or a new roller for Geoffrey Theobald.

Everyone has their priorities - and transport budgets, as set by the DfT (rather than the DoH) are also important for keeping people - and economies - moving. It's like you're making out sustainable transport isn't important. From a health point of view (walking / cycling), I could make a case that it is.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Simple solution for the Vogue Gyratory: move Sainsbury's along to the Preston Barracks site and use the old Sainsbury's site for housing. The traffic then associated with Sainsbury's will not cause the problems it does at a junction of four roads.

Come on lets go the whole hog. Bring back the viaduct and rebuild Lewes Road station, more trains this would solve a lot of transport problems.

 

[Brovion]

Fair enough, to a point - but where does that stop? Using yours and Tim's yardstick, it's not a massive leap to infer from your point that all 'spare' money would go on worthy projects such as the NHS. However, the reality is that you can't have everything thrown at the NHS.

The money is 'ring-fenced' insofar as it's the DfT's budget having to be spent on a project like this, as opposed to new jetpacks for the CEO or a new roller for Geoffrey Theobald.

Everyone has their priorities - and transport budgets, as set by the DfT (rather than the DoH) are also important for keeping people - and economies - moving. It's like you're making out sustainable transport isn't important. From a health point of view (walking / cycling), I could make a case that it is.

I don't disagree (and I did say I was biased; I know it isn't as simple as saying 'more money for NHS nursing teams'), but this particular project isn't exactly being universally-acclaimed as an essential piece of transport infrastructure. It may indeed solve some problems, but it also could create some new ones. Also I, and certainly my wife, aren't going to walk/cycle/take the bus any more that we do at present.

 

[trueblue]

No, the thing that pisses me off is the concept of 'ring fenced' grants for schemes like this. In these times of austerity these projects should have been the first to go. (I'm slightly biased as my wife is suffering from NHS cuts and this scheme, like all the 'improvement' schemes, will in all probability make her job more stressful - that's if she stays as a district nurse)

Certainly agree with that. My other half is a hospital nurse and she's having her money cut for the overnight shifts she's obliged to take. The sort of person she is (i.e. caring) she just gets on with it regardless. I'd tell them to stick it personally, but nurses just don't do that. And in the meantime, we get another pointless traffic queue creation scheme at vast expense.