Road, Rail & Access Issues

[tpm]

Don't know if the flyers are worse now than they used to be. The rattling was there right from the beginning. I think they're still quite alright and serve their purpose well. I feel like there has been a slight reduction in frequency though, the "every 7-8 minutes" interval seems to be quite limited, if it still exists. Timetable just says "at least every 10 minutes" now and that is often what I find during the day as well. And I often can't get a seat on the way out.

Temple Meads redevelopment seems a long way off, looks like there's "commitment" from NR but not enough funding, so they might just drag it out into CP6, and they'd only be willing to pay for a limited redevelopment anyway, external funding might have to be found for aspirations that are not crucial to operational needs or their plans for the station (like re-opening up tunnels to provide a new street/underpass from one side of the station to the other). Hopefully redevelopment of the area around the station and the extension of the TQEZ will be able to provide that (although I doubt it's going to be enough).

In any case, first we'll see a reconfiguration of the road alignment in front of the station. The massive Temple Gyratory roundabout will go away in favour of a simplified junction arrangement, which frees up space for redevelopment and a new plaza (which will no doubt be called Brunel this or Cabot that). Not sure if the flyer will continue to go up the station approach in the long run. Terminating busses will apparently go to a new entrance at the Friary, whilst busses passing through might just stop along the new road somewhere. Will be interesting to see if they'll make an exception for the flyer. I'd expect it to go via the Friary at least on the outbound journey.

However, the real reason for entertaining you with a new post today is some bits I found in the Joint Transport Board agenda and papers for their upcoming meeting (Item 7, page2):

Large Local Transport Schemes

A. A38 Access Improvement Scheme

10. The A38 lacks sufficient capacity and resilience to cater for current and predicted
demand growth in respect of Bristol Airport, employment and housing. The existing
network constraint, congestion and unreliable connectivity acts as a throttle on
economic growth and development potential and inhibits the opportunity for reliable,
robust multi-modal surface access options for the Airport.

11. The lack of resilience in the network struggles to deal with existing demands with
disruptions and accidents impacting economic competiveness and reduced
accessibility to jobs and services. This creates longer, less reliable journey times for
all, including key bus services including the Airport Flyer.

12. The A38 provides not only the primary road link to Bristol Airport from Bristol and the
surrounding catchment area to the north, east and west, it also serves as a key
commuter route into Bristol from towns and villages to its south and is the only
significant route available for many communities within North Somerset.

13. The A38 from Bristol towards the Airport is primarily a single lane carriageway with
no public transport priority. It has numerous side roads linking local towns and
villages.

14. Seeking to address the capacity issues along the A38 will be integral to seeking to
address and deliver wide ranging and ambitious surface access improvements to the
Airport. The options for on-line and off-line improvements may take the form of:
- Major junction upgrades and improvements including priority changes.
- Additional new lane capacity and sections of dual carriageway.
- A step-change in multi-modal public transport provision from Bristol to the Airport.

My understanding is that they're applying for funds to create an initial appraisal/option-study for such a scheme, so even in the best case nothing is likely to happen before the mid-20s, but I found it interesting nevertheless since it's the first I heard about it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There is an article in the Bristol Post today - see below link - in which the arguments for and against an upgraded A38 are set out.

I lived in a cottage next to the A38 at Redhill in the 1950s (a couple of miles south of the airport that was then home to a glider club) and the road was extremely busy then as it was pre-M5 and the only artery from the North/Midlands to the further South West. Since those days both Redhill itself and Barrow Hill have been widened to three lanes in part although not all the carriageway is utilised at those points as hatchings discourage drivers from using sections of what would be the middle lane.

The new traffic lights at A38/Downside Road also cause queues at times, sometimes to the bottom of Barrow Hill, a couple of miles away.

Although improved surface access to BRS is clearly needed, whether a jazzed-up A38 is the answer i don't know. It will be interesting to see what effect, if any, the South Bristol Link road has on traffic conditions when it's opened, supposedly at the end of this year.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/new-la...near-airport/story-29411034-detail/story.html

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Further to my previous post of 17 June 2016, the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership is to submit a bid to the Department for Transport for £3 million to fund a feasibility study into ways of upgrading the A 38 between the city and the airport. A decision on the bid is expected in the autumn.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/a38-tr...-carriageway/story-29491389-detail/story.html

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

To me since the traffic lights have gone in at Downside Rd the situation is worse, traffic is often all the way back to Bishopsworth just because of those lights and the lights at Barrow Tanks, I cant see how they can dual carriageway much of the road as some sections just wont be wide enough due to housing, it would be better to have a dedicated road built for it that bypasses the city somehow, although that will get the nimbys backs up....

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The traffic can back up on occasions for several miles towards Bristol from the lights, as you point out. I use the A38 a lot and most of the time the traffic isn't too bad at all, except at commuter times or on certain days such as the Friday before a public holiday or the school holidays.

The obvious answer would be a link from the M5 but, apart from environmental considerations and nimbys, the cost would almost certainly not be justified by the results.

Over the past 50 years the A 38 has been widened with the long and steep Redhill and Barrow Hill two examples. In my youth both hills were single lane in either direction, although even now there are sections on both hills where the third lane cannot be used because of traffic engineering decisions.

Most complaints about surface access to the airport seem to revolve around the slow, meandering drive from the Portway through Ashton and around the Parson Street, Bedminster one-way complex. The South Bristol link road should be open by the end of the year. It remains to be seen how that will affect traffic flows onto the A38.

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

The traffic can back up on occasions for several miles towards Bristol from the lights, as you point out. I use the A38 a lot and most of the time the traffic isn't too bad at all, except at commuter times or on certain days such as the Friday before a public holiday or the school holidays.

The obvious answer would be a link from the M5 but, apart from environmental considerations and nimbys, the cost would almost certainly not be justified by the results.

Over the past 50 years the A 38 has been widened with the long and steep Redhill and Barrow Hill two examples. In my youth both hills were single lane in either direction, although even now there are sections on both hills where the third lane cannot be used because of traffic engineering decisions.

Most complaints about surface access to the airport seem to revolve around the slow, meandering drive from the Portway through Ashton and around the Parson Street, Bedminster one-way complex. The South Bristol link road should be open by the end of the year. It remains to be seen how that will affect traffic flows onto the A38.

I think and hope it will make things easier but may in turn move te problem to another bottle neck somewhere along the chain, I was surprised that the link road isnt a dual carriageway!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think and hope it will make things easier but may in turn move te problem to another bottle neck somewhere along the chain, I was surprised that the link road isnt a dual carriageway!

So was I. It looks very narrow in places too.

 

[superking]

that does not make sense as rest of link road is duel carrigeway. so from hicks gate to long ashton bypass single track. i wonder how long someone will speak out and say wish we dueled it when being built.costs more money when built and open to make alterations.sounds like some body being a skin flint some where.

 

[tpm]

I believe the South Bristol Link road was originally planned to be 4 lanes wide, with one lane in each direction being a bus lane (so no dual carriageway), but then the bus lanes were dropped to reduce cost. Not sure if it really needs to be a dual carriageway. We'll see. I would expect new neighbourhoods to pop up around there in the next 10-20 years.

It also appears the powers that be scrapped the Hicks Gate to Hartcliffe roundabout bypass (ie. proper extension of the ring road from the A4 to the SBL) because the Bristol Labour government doesn't want it to happen (ie. prefers other schemes elsewhere).

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When the link was first proposed between Hicks Gate and the A 370 at Long Ashton there was an enormous campaign to have it blocked. The SBL became a reality over that part of the route between the A 370 and Bishopsworth but no further. Things went very quiet for several years until recently when it was hinted that it was back on the table. Within days the local authority announced that the scheme was dead in the water (until someone dives in sometime in the future with a rescue bid in mind).

On paper it's a good idea because Bristol would then be encircled by a combination of ring road and motorways which would, amongst other things, open up those areas of south Bristol that are employment black spots. One major snag is that there would be a need to demolish houses on the border of Hartcliffe and Whitchurch to take the ring road towards Hicks Gate from Bishopsworth.

On another subject I saw a Bristol city bus this week with an advert for the South West Falcon service from Plymouth and other South West centres to BRS. I smiled at the thought of Stagecoach (Falcon) giving First (city buses) some business.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A complaint yesterday on the BRS Twitter feed refers to empty Airport Flyer buses (A1 service) refusing to stop at Temple Meads to take passengers to the airport.

I suspect they were bus station-bound buses. I've been at the Flyer airport stop at the railway station when inbound Flyer buses have driven past (they would have already set down passengers from the airport further down the station approach road) to the anger of some people waiting.

I've tried to explain that they were buses coming from the airport and going on to the bus station (the destination blind is clearly shown) but when some people get a bee in their bonnet about something any amount of rational explanation won't shift them.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Traffic Lights - A38/Downside Road junction.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/petiti...stol-airport/story-29600319-detail/story.html

There is now a petition being organised calling for the removal of these lights. It's said that at peak times traffic queues stretch back along the A38 to the city boundary about four miles away.

A North Somerset Council spokesman said the matter is under review.

 

[superking]

seen the a2 service to and from the airport today and looking at the bus it looked like standing .I don't know if this is normal or not. both buses I spotted was around 2 o clock time. give or take a little.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

seen the a2 service to and from the airport today and looking at the bus it looked like standing .I don't know if this is normal or not. both buses I spotted was around 2 o clock time. give or take a little.

Is that the Falcon coach from/to Plymouth or the First A2 service from/to Weston-super-Mare?

The A2 service, which I use most weeks, has seen a noticeable drop in passengers since (a) the Clevedon and Portishead sections were dropped and (b) North Somerset Council stopped the use of the pensioners bus passes on both the A1 Flyer and A4 Bath Air Decker which were used to connect with the A2 by people who'd been to Bristol shopping etc.

If the Falcon coaches were bursting today that's very good news. They actually go on to Central Bristol and the BRS-Central-BRS legs are usually sparsely filled. No wonder really because the Megabus service from Plymouth etc to Bristol, operated by Stagecoach as is the Falcon, is a much quicker service.

 

[superking]

Is that the Falcon coach from/to Plymouth or the First A2 service from/to Weston-super-Mare?
I was near locking when I seen the one going to airport. the one I seen from the airport I was at sandford about 2 hours later.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Is that the Falcon coach from/to Plymouth or the First A2 service from/to Weston-super-Mare?
I was near locking when I seen the one going to airport. the one I seen from the airport I was at sandford about 2 hours later.

Good to know that the A2 is full sometimes (I use it a lot when I go walking so have a vested interest). I caught the 1027 A2 from BRS (bus going to Weston, I went to Redhill) this morning and I was the only passenger. It does tend to be busier between Winscombe and Weston, but the section between Churchill and the airport is not well supported except perhaps at peak times. The same applied to its predecessor, the 121 Bristol-Weston 'village tour', and that was axed.

If the airport begins a Weston Flyer next year - some vague talk at an earlier consultative committee meeting this year - that would certainly be the end of the A2, at least at the airport end of the route.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A1 Flyer at Temple Meads

When I was at Temple Meads station on Thursday afternoon I noticed that the Flyer buses were picking up at the stops used by services 8 and 9 (Clifton and Redland) from the station. The taxi rank had been extended along the front of the station to where the Flyer used to load.

As this was the first day of the Bristol Balloon Fiesta and there were many shuttle buses operating further down the main approach road I thought perhaps that this was a temporary arrangement to prevent the rear end of the line of parked taxi cabs getting in the way of the shuttle buses.

However, there is a notice on the BRS Twitter feed giving details of the Flyer bus stop change and there is nothing to suggest it's a temporary arrangement.

 

[sierrafoxtrot]

On a slightly different note noticed today those annoying chippings have been put down on the perimeter 'circular' road and south of the airport, very annoying for motorists like myself!

 

[Jono577]

The derided surface dressing strikes again!!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

On a slightly different note noticed today those annoying chippings have been put down on the perimeter 'circular' road and south of the airport, very annoying for motorists like myself!

The derided surface dressing strikes again!!

North Somerset Council seems to be going to town in a number of its areas with the 'chuck down the gravel and let the motorist roll it in' strategy.

It's not only them though. Bristol City Council is doing the same and today's Bristol Post carries a lengthy article about the dust and dirt that these measures have caused this week in a number of city districts. On Monday I had the misfortune to walk along Anchor Road by the Harbourside just after the gravel-spreading enthusiasts had done their worst on the carriageway. On a very hot and dry afternoon the dust thrown up by cars traversing this section of road was overwhelming and I found myself covered in a film of grime.