Plans to install bus lanes on one of the busiest main roads into the city will create ‘engineered congestion’ and inflict ‘short-sighted misery’ on residents in north Bristol.
That’s the view of two local councillors, who have urged City Hall chiefs to think again before two years of roadworks start.
The plans for the bus lane and ‘improvement scheme’ on the A4018 in Brentry and Henbury have been a long time in the making, and the decision has already been made to create a new crossing over the busy road, a new cycle path and to put a bus lane between the Crow Lane roundabout and the top of Brentry Hill.
The A4018 is the main road into the city centre from junction 17 of the M5 and Cribbs Causeway, and is one of the key commuter routes into Bristol the north west. Local councillors Mark Weston and Bador Uddin (Con, Henbury and Brentry) said that while they support the crossing and the cycle lane, the bus lane will cause more congestion, traffic jams and pollution for the residents living nearby.
“We urged the last administration to think again and we have urged this one to,” Cllr Weston said. “The bus lanes will be peak time only and have been slightly shortened, which is at least something, but our opposition remains.
“Only one bus uses this route. Hold ups are rare and are caused by the pinch points over the hill, not this stretch itself,” the two councillors said. “By forcing traffic from two lanes to one very quickly you risk backing up the traffic over the roundabout and bringing our communities to a standstill.
“By congesting the Crow Lane roundabout you will create a rat run up Brentry Lane. The original consultation spoke about traffic calming along this stretch. This seems to have been quietly dropped. This would need to be urgently added back into the final design,” they added.
“Very few people in the area, those that know the roads, want this at all. The modelling was done in 2020 and traffic events have moved on since, and the plans will also remove a large number of mature trees,” they added.
In a statement to Thursday’s transport committee at City Hall, the two councillors will tell council chiefs: “What will happen is you will take a road that copes and turn it into a road that doesn’t. It will be engineered congestion,” they said.
The plans for the A4018 have already been approved by the council, and the second phase which covers the A37 in Whitchurch and Stockwood are up for discussion this week.
The bus lanes in Brentry are part of a wider project to increase capacity for buses and cycling in the city, which has been put together by the city council and the West of England Combined Authority.
“This is an ambitious project to improve how people travel across the city along key transport routes, making it easier to connect people to jobs and leisure opportunities, anticipating a growing population and supporting the city’s health and economic growth,” said a spokesperson for TravelWest.
“The aim is to make it easier and more convenient to use the bus, walk and cycle wherever possible, rather than use private cars. This project aims to make walking and cycling more attractive and to give priority to buses through infrastructure improvements. This would reduce air pollution to improve the health of everyone,” he added.