Roadworks about to start on Great North Road - a one year scheme
The CR4 cycleway works between Broadway and Brunton Lane on the Great North Road leading out of the City (a part of the Darlington to Blyth scheme) were due to start but there has been a short pause while a petition is discussed at the meeting of Newcastle City Council on Wednesday. The work will take a year, but there should be very little impact on traffic for the first 6 months (allowing time for the Killingworth Road scheme to be completed and that road reopened)
SPACE for Gosforth has just published a very comprehensive summary of the history of the proposals here
http://spaceforgosforth.com/broadway-to-brunton-cycle-lane/ ..
Recent actions by Liberal Democrats councillors:
1. The recent letter to Melton Park residents was at our specific request, and we've also asked the same for each of the following phases.
2. Many people have no memory of all the steps that have been taken. Two years from consultation to scheme may not be long in the eyes of professionals, but is soon forgotten by many. (The same argument very much applies to the Broadway roundabout. Hardly anyone remembers that the layout now is a consequence of a furore at the time of first consultation about installing 4-way traffic lights and removing the roundabout.) So we've asked the Scrutiny Committee to look at the communications process, as part of a wider review of major highways schemes.
3. Design changes are implemented as implementation progresses (the original mis-placement of a sign in the middle of someone's drive in the Broadway scheme being an example) So we've asked for a further meeting with officers to reiterate our concerns about the 30mph speed limit - the current plan is that the permanent limit between Glamis Ave and Newlands Ave would stay at 40mph - and in particular about the safety of cyclists crossing Newlands Ave and the exit of cars uphill from Melton Park into traffic, and the excess speed of taxis using the bus lane.
We've been pointing out to residents - and people as far away as Swindon who've been objecting - that the trees being removed from the pavement at Glamis Avenue have already pushed up and cracked the pavement, endangering less stable people going to the bus stop, and look like they are having an impact on the stone wall alongside the road. Elsewhere in the Parklands Ward, residents have been begging the Council for action on similar tree growth but there's no money to do it. This is a spin-off benefit because the cost will be met from the scheme. It really could be now or never.
We also hope that one of us will be called to speak on the petition to the Council.