I have received the traffic survery information I requested under the FOI act.
It seems to me from my initial look that
- There appears to be no consideration of the cross streets ( St Johns N and Belgravia)
- The traffic volume that will be forced down a single lane (as per the plan) is more or less doubled
- Wentworth terrace looks like it will get a real pounding
The diagrams and a donwload can be found here
Wentworth St/Bradford Rd will see a significant increase in the volume of buses and lorries, especially buses if there is to be a park and ride facility. This will result in heavy traffic being driven through the heart of the St John’s conservation area and right next to the most heavily used part of the school playground. As a result, the character of the area, which is one of the few parts of Wakefield with any character remaining, will be ruined; the impact on the community will be detrimental; and children’s health will suffer as a result of the worst polluting vehicles stopping and starting right next to the playground.
The road past the Londis shop will be blocked to traffic coming down Bradford Rd into town as a result of that road becoming one-way, which will drive traffic either down Melbourne Rd and side streets to reach the back of the shop or up the link road and round the top of the green. With a one-way system round 2 sides of the green, the green will effectively become a roundabout which will ruin the character of the area and have a detrimental effect on the community.
As a result of the Link Road becoming one-way, the volume of heavy traffic (buses & lorries) going past the Londis shop will increase substantially, which will exacerbate an already dangerous situation around the shop with cars parking and pulling out into the road. I think this is a real safety concern, especially as the road is not suited to heavy traffic but it will also cut the green off from the community and again the effect will be detrimental. (It is worth noting that when the last road changes were made at the junction of Snow Hill and Bradford Rd – next to the school playground, an agreement was made that no buses would use this route. Gradually this agreement has been eroded and is now totally ignored.)