Nottingham City Council’s portfolio holder for transport has written to the Secretary of State for Transport to ask for help in easing the impact on the city of Highways England’s works on Clifton Bridge.
The council has outlined a set of proposals totalling £1m for Highways England to consider funding which would help to keep traffic moving and encourage the use of public transport. This would help to ease the congestion on the city’s road network being caused or exacerbated by the work which started over a month ago.
Portfolio Holder for Transport Cllr Adele Williams has sent the proposals to Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps to ask for his support in ensuring action is taken, given the significant disruption the works are causing and will continue to cause for the rest of the year now that Highways England have confirmed they don’t expect to complete the work until December 31st at the earliest.
In the letter, Cllr Williams points out that Clifton Bridge is the busiest stretch of road in the city, normally carrying 100,000 vehicle movements a day and its partial closure has created congestion on Nottingham’s roads, including up to 15,000 more outbound daily vehicle movements than normal over Lady Bay Bridge and Trent Bridge.
The council has been carrying out a range of measures aimed at easing the disruption, including adjusting traffic signals, keeping certain junctions clear at key times with the help of Nottinghamshire Police, encouraging public transport use and keeping other roadworks under review. But it has outlined a range of further proposals for Highways England to consider, including:
- Temporary park & ride options
- Extra signs, including electronic signs and use of the Smart Motorway boards on the M1 and major approach routes, advising alternative routes and public transport options
- Special offers to promote public transport
- Additional travel planning with major employers and for events
- Ongoing support for police presence to keep key junctions clear – as well as introducing yellow box lining and bus/tram gates on some junctions.
Cllr Williams said: “We are pleased that Highways England are working to open a second outbound lane over Clifton Bridge, and hope that helps to ease congestion. But with such a major, busy intersection not expected to fully reopen until the end of the year, there’s bound to be ongoing disruption for people trying to travel in and around the city.
“We have major works of our own starting later this year to reconfigure roads and improve the environment in the city’s Southside as part of the area’s current transformation. This has been carefully planned over the last five years to minimise disruption but clearly this is now due to take place in the context of the significant extra pressure placed on our own road network by the Highways England work at Clifton Bridge.
“We are saying to Highways England and the Government that it is imperative that all that can be done to ease this pressure is done. We have outlined a range of proposals so that Nottingham can continue to function effectively for the remainder of the Clifton Bridge works as a centre of commerce and industry, a destination for visitors and a city home to over 300,000 people.”