Conservative councillors have criticised a plan for new bus lanes in Bristol claiming they will be “traffic vandalism”. Bristol City Council is planning to install the new bus lanes on a stretch of the A4018 Passage Road, a key commuter route running through the north of the city.
The bus lane is planned between the Crow Lane roundabout and the top of Brentry Hill, and will only be in force during peak times to stop the Number 1 bus from getting stuck in traffic. But there are concerns about reducing the space for drivers, causing extra congestion.
The A4018 is the main road into the city centre from junction 17 of the M5 and Cribbs Causeway. Council bosses were urged to revisit the proposals, slammed as a “colossal act of self-harm”, during a meeting of the transport policy committee on October 24.
Councillor Mark Weston, leader of the Conservative group, said: “There’s still time to pull back on it. You’re going to artificially create congestion, and it’s going to be chock-a-block all the time.”
One problem with the plan is that drivers will have an alternative route, which could potentially cut out some of the traffic along the road. Initially, the council had planned to put traffic calming measures in place along Brentry Lane, but these proposals were removed from the current plan.
Cllr Weston added: “The original plan had traffic calming measures on Brentry Lane. The reason is Brentry Lane cuts out the [Crow Lane] roundabout. Now it doesn’t take a genius to realise that they’re not going to go to the roundabout and sit in the traffic, they’re going to go down Brentry Lane.
“But the traffic calming has been removed, apparently because rat-running won’t happen. I can only assume we’ll be riding our flying pigs to work, when this doesn’t happen. The traffic calming at the very least has to go back in, otherwise you’re creating a drag strip.”
However he was told that the plans are now too far ahead to be changed. The work is due to start soon, although the exact date is unclear.
Green Cllr Ed Plowden, chair of the transport policy committee, said: “Mark I would like to thank you for taking me around the area and educating me about it. I’m sorry but I think it might be just a little bit too late in the whole process for me to be able to act on that education.”
Previous proposed changes also included replacing the Crow Lane roundabout with a traffic light junction, banning certain turns off the road, and restrictions in Westbury Village. These proposals were dropped in summer 2019 after proving very unpopular.