Work is set to start next week on the upgrade of four pedestrian crossings in Bristol. South Gloucestershire Council has announced that from Monday, January 6, puffin crossings in Hanham, Kingswood and Downend will be upgraded. However, many Bristol Live readers are querying whether these improvements really need to be made.
The new crossings will replace existing ones at each location, utilising the latest technology for an improved pedestrian experience. The work, which may take up to three weeks at each site, will kick off near Victoria Road and Creswicke Avenue, before moving on to Laburnum Street in Hanham, Kingswood and then Downend.
Puffin crossings are a type of pedestrian crossing where the lights indicating when pedestrians can cross are located on the same side of the road as the user, rather than across the road. These crossings employ sensors which can prolong a red light if a slower pedestrian is crossing the road.
Commenter Mrgreedy says: “So they already work? Why not spend the money on the pot holes? The council really knows how to waste our money.”
Dbanderson agrees: “A better experience for pedestrians crossing the road? How so? A concierge service? Someone to carry your luggage? Man alive, it’s a crossing for pedestrians and it’ll only work if motorists stop for you or not. What a waste of money. How about painting the road markings instead? That’ll help everyone.”
6470 adds: “Not sure any of these are in Bristol but if these are working properly why change them, just repaint the lines around the crossing. Councils moaning they got no money yet wasting it on things like this. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Bbski said: “Why spend money on making things worse? I expect the green or red light to be in front of me when I cross. There is no reason for the changes other than the work is in the budget and we have to keep the technicians employed. The camera system is supposed to hold the lights until the pedestrian has crossed. The crossings at Tescos on Kellaway Avenue don’t do that and neither does the set at the Kellaway Avenue and Wellington Hill junction. The cameras do not make the crossings any safer, taking away the signal on the far side of the road makes them more dangerous. These crossings have been updated, the work took a long time, traffic disrupted at weekends, despite no work being carried out.”
Brianharveyy thinks: “It was only yesterday I was thinking these pedestrian crossings could do with an upgrade.”
Ianw adds: “This story explains why I saw 6 or so South Glos employees in high vis jackets stood around the lights near Creswicke Ave in Hanham a week or so before Christmas. I presume the council sent this many employees to Hanham in case they found it difficult to locate the crossings.
“Anyway, they seemed to be enjoying themselves strolling along the High Street, most likely happy to be away from their desks for an hour or two. Hanham seems to be getting a fair bit of attention from South Glos lately and I think I read they were spending some £180000 on improvements to the High Street. This included a nice bench, a tree, some turf, some flowers and metal fencing outside Hanham Library which was installed a couple of months ago by a not inconsiderable number of contractors over a period of a few weeks.”
Are you happy to hear the crossings will be upgraded or do you think the money could be better spent elsewhere? Have your say in our comments section.