Leeds Bradford: Airport Road, Rail & Access Issues

[rmac]

I think it should be designed in such a way that land will be available for a future dualling of the link road if that is at all possible.

 

[Airambiant]

Link road options A and B make no sense at all, both would bring more traffic to a already congested A65 in particular Horsforth roundabout. Both A and B are too expensive and unnessary we already have roads to the airport which passengers have little issue with. Airport related traffic is low overall, the biggest issue in area is commuter traffic and money should be spent on this. People favoured a train link to the airport over a road as per last consultation. So I think option C and a road from the new train station to the airport for a bus would make most economical sense for the airport.

 

[White Heather]

With option A and B I have one big issue, Why are they not dual carriageways all the way? Can you imagine the traffic on them that would just bottle up if for example they was perhaps a slower moving vehicle and with each end having traffic light junctions! with option b you would get traffic jamming up the roundabout where the multiflight entrance is due to the traffic lights that join upto current a658 and at the other end the pathetic horsforth roundabout jams would back upto the start of this new road. Also why traffic lights? whats wrong with roundabouts if large and spacious?

I am sure many of us would have liked a dual carriageway, but the reasons we are not going to get one are, I suspect, based not only on cost, but practicality. The money for this scheme is effectively being taken from the Trolley Bus fund which is not limitless, and from that fund, other rail stations and road schemes are to be funded. It is a case of making the best of what money is available in the knowledge that the Government won't provide any more. So a dual carriageway would clearly be considerably more expensive. Not only does the road itself cost a great deal more to construct, due to the area covered by the road, the requirement for slip roads etc., but it would also mean that before construction, a good deal more land area would need to be bought up by Compulsory Purchase - also adding to the cost. Furthermore, those who know the area might have spotted that in Option A, the road fits between the front of Horsforth Golf Club and the back of the row of homes in front of the club house (on Layton Road). Whilst a single carriageway road will fit in the cutting there, a dual carriageway certainly wouldn't, so either the golf club house or those houses would have to be demolished, further adding to costs and (I would imagine) adding considerably to the opposition to that scheme. A little further along, and even more significantly, the road fits between existing runway lighting without disturbing the new lighting gantries. A dual carriageway wouldn't and would probably require a lot of work to relocate the gantries. As these are all equally spaced out, it would throw the entire runway approach lighting out, and that would be one hell of a job to resolve - and the gantries are newly installed! I honestly don't think that a dual carriageway would have been feasible within the available budget.

Link road options A and B make no sense at all, both would bring more traffic to a already congested A65 in particular Horsforth roundabout. Both A and B are too expensive and unnessary we already have roads to the airport which passengers have little issue with. Airport related traffic is low overall, the biggest issue in area is commuter traffic and money should be spent on this. People favoured a train link to the airport over a road as per last consultation. So I think option C and a road from the new train station to the airport for a bus would make most economical sense for the airport.

Airambient - I think you might find yourself in a minority on your views - especially if you consider that passengers have little issue with the existing roads to the airport. Where have you been? There are complaints all the time about access by road to the airport and how long it takes. I have lost count of how many times people have said that they fly from Manchester as they can get there by car quicker than they can to Leeds Bradford - a point I usually dispute, but they are convinced. The roads to the airport are clogged up regularly and whether all the traffic is airport bound or just through traffic is irrelevant. Option A is the only sensible Option as it is the only one that serves not only the airport, but the proposed employment zone behind the Avro factory, and the proposed park and ride and the parkway station. You proposed Option C is useless for all of them and will do nothing at all to relieve the pressure on roads through Rawdon and Yeadon. Option A, and to a lesser extent Option B, will also act as a Yeadon/Rawdon by pass for traffic heading into Leeds via the A65. I agree it won't be a perfect solution, but when did Leeds or West Yorkshire ever get the money from Government to fund a perfect solution? Not in my lifetime.

 

[Airambiant]

Minority of people’s view on a LBA fan forum maybe!!

 

[White Heather]

Minority of people’s view on a LBA fan forum maybe!!

Absolutely nothing to do with that. Do you seriously believe that Leeds City Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority would go to the extent of consulting several years ago and then coming up with Options A and B at considerable cost, if there was no problem with existing roads?

I note that you have not commented on how Option C (or B for that matter) would serve the proposed Park and Ride with bus interchange at the new Parkway Station? Or are you suggesting that traffic accesses this via the narrow and often dangerous Scotland Lane?

I attend the Leeds Bradford Airport Consultative Committee and this is also attended by many councillors, parish council!ors and other parties, many of whom have persistently complained over the past 20 years about traffic congestion en-route to LBA and particularly about traffic issues on the existing road network. They themselves have been pushing for a new link road for many years not only to provide adequate road links to LBA, but also to provide a by-pass to Yeadon and Rawdon. The same applies to local residents who live near to the airport in Yeadon and Horsforth too.

Quite honestly you are the first person I have ever heard say that the existing roads are OK!

 

[Airambiant]

My post points to the A65 being over congested and the main issue being commuter traffic not airport. I merely expressed my point of view on this subject.

 

[LBA4EVER]

I think the A65 to horsforth roundabout will be the main problem as the new road will generate a lot more traffic leading to that horrid roundadbout , so you get existing traffic from rawdon then more traffic from the new road. what idiot thought of putting traffic lights into a rather tight roundabout, and any intelligent person would tell you that having 2 lanes down towards rodley lasting a greater distance before merging back to one would speed up traffic. The whole transport planning in leeds and west Yorkshire is just so horrid I just laugh about it now !

 

[LBA4EVER]

Coming back to spain again lol in Alicante they used to be 3 very congested roundabouts near to the city centre what I used to have to pass through. turned up one year to find new tunnels had been put in so one road over the other, I know it will never happen here but least some countries no how to plan.

 

[Aviador]

People may not be aware but Leeds city council already has plans to significantly upgrade the A65 from the Horsforth roundabout up to where Option A and B commence. At least that was according to a discussion I had with a council boffin at one of the last consultation meetings. If you look carefully at the plans for option A, they appear to be future proofed with sideings large enough to potentially duel in the future and to extend at both ends if necessary. That's my opinion anyway.

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

The fact is this - Leeds road network was built when traffic was not at the levels it is now. There was absolutely no future proofing in this (stanningley by-pass maybe) but apart from that really there is nothing. As usual in the UK we are now playing catch up - and as ever London gets anything first, following by Birmingham & Manchester with the rest of the money shared between everywhere else. Interestingly however there was a plan to put a Motorway in the east of Leeds but environmentalists won.

Horsforth Roundabout should be demolished and this should become a traffic signalled - it would become so much better and improve the junction substantially. Weirdly enough the council want to remove Lawnswood roundabout which is a HUGE roundabout which works perfect. Arn't councillors & council leaders just bonkers. Waste money removing a working roundabout and waste money improving a sh*t roundabout. Tell you there a waste of money sometimes.

Rodley roundabout is another absolute waste of time. They should just junction it up with traffic signals and that is it. The roundabout doesn't work. Someone mentioned that council should reverse the dual carriageway on the road linking both roundabouts. They did this and reversed this - it was dangerous, there was a couple of accidents and it slowed down emergency vehicles. Maybe they should make both sides dual carriage way.

The biggest problem in Leeds is that traffic lights are not linked together. So for example if there is a junction (say Junction 1) with a north/south road and east/west road and the same layout at junction 2 1/2 a mile away the traffic lights do not link. At junction 1 the traffic lights will be green for north/south whilst at junction 2 they will be red - causing jams. They have more than enough substantial data to sort this out but fail to do so.

If they are to improve and add another link road - they need to do something with the A65. Currently a 30 zone with many junctions which need substantial improvement and is a nightmare. I personally welcome Option A as it will relieve pressure on Yeadon/Rawdon which is more then welcome, improve substantially links to the airport and local areas and ultimately provide another road. Lets be honest this road is already well used at the planning stage let alone when it is built.

@Airambiant Are you local to Leeds? If not please feel free to come up one Autumanal evening and try get from the City Centre to the airport using all these nightmare junctions, roundabouts etc. We are not just Leeds fans - we know the area very well and see the benefit from option A.

 

[Aviador]

I think Leeds has an obsession with bus lanes. Rightly or wrongly successive councils have tried to get people out of their cars onto buses but unsuccessfully. This evening I was stuck on the Armley Giratary going past Armley jail the traffic was horrendous yet the bus lane was empty. If bus lanes worked correctly the queuing traffic wouldn't exist because drivers would be on the buses. Had the road been dualed for cars the traffic would be free-flowing.

 

[LBA4EVER]

End of the day we are just an over populated country with too many vehicles on outdated roads.

 

[Finger66]

I think there is an obsession with bus and cycle lanes just now and of course everyone has a view on whether they are a help or a hindrance, or whether they are good use of money or a waste of money. I am actually on the fence on this. Just thinking about access to LBA from Bradford for a minute, Greengates junction is in for major improvements with extra lanes but will remain light controlled I believe rather than a roundabout. Roundabouts work at quieter times in my eyes but lights are better when busy. Anyway this Bradford traffic is still going to have to travel through Rawdon for LBA. But without doubt, Option A has to be the choice for the new link road. I suppose a new purpose built airport not on the top of a hill with limited space for expansion would be the ideal answer, but then no such location exists........does it?

 

[MickLufc]

A lot of Bradford traffic will still go that way but I'd be tempted to try the ring road from Dawsons Corner up to the new link road

 

[Aviador]

A lot of Bradford traffic will still go that way but I'd be tempted to try the ring road from Dawsons Corner up to the new link road

I seem to recall a study which suggested that would become the primary route between Bradford and the airport.

 

[Aviador]

Hi Mick!

 

[Sherburnflyer92]

Just a thought - with Option A and the employment parks they propose surely they would be able to move all the offices, cargo blocks that sit near Taxiway Alpha?

That then gives the airport more ramp space?

 

[louis_walton]

I don't know if anyone else uses the Instagram Stories feature but I keep seeing advertisements from Leeds City Council informing the public go the changes. It really is a good sign as they seem to finally want to see the airport grow! Hopefully the adverts will appeal to the public and the better option for the airport will be chosen! (A)

 

[oldendays]

I went to Yeadon Town Hall this afternoon for the road and rail exhibitions. Excellent turnout - mainly over-fifties which I guess reflects Yeadon's demographic ! Lots of 'official' folk on hand to answer questions but I didn't notice any Airport Management there. Lots of displays explaining the various road options; less so for the rail Parkway issue. An optional Q&A form to fill in asking for the public's opinions, as well as those of local businesses. I'm pleased I went.

 

[White Heather]

I guess that LBA management won't be attending as this is a council issue mainly (and West Yorkshire Combined Authority). LBA themselves don't really have any input at this stage. They have already done their bit by getting the council and WYCA to fully support the requirement for improved transport and road links to the airport. It is up to both of them to take it forward now.