Bus passengers warned of major delays during city centre roadworks

Nation.Cymru staff

Bus passengers are being warned to expect significant delays next week as temporary traffic lights are introduced on a key city centre route.

Three-way traffic lights will operate around the clock at the junction of Castle Street and Westgate Street in Cardiff from Monday, September 21 until Friday, September 25 as part of ongoing roadworks.

Cardiff Bus said the majority of its services pass through the junction and warned that delays there could have a knock-on effect across its wider network.

Passengers are being advised to allow extra time for journeys and consider catching an earlier bus if they need to arrive at a particular time.

Gareth Stevens, commercial and operations director at Cardiff Bus, said: “We’ll do everything we can to keep our services running and minimise disruption, but we are expecting these temporary lights to have an impact on journey times across our network.

“We’re asking customers to plan ahead, allow extra time for their journeys and, if their journey is time-sensitive, consider catching an earlier bus.”

Roadworks

The disruption comes during a major project to make long-standing temporary road and cycling changes on Castle Street permanent.

Work began earlier this year, with the main construction programme expected to last around 12 months.

Cardiff Council appointed Knights Brown to carry out the scheme, which includes a fully segregated cycleway, resurfacing, upgraded footways and changes to bus stops on Kingsway and North Road.

Improvements are also being made to junctions at Westgate Street, High Street and Kingsway, including new pedestrian and cycle crossings.

The council previously said Castle Street would remain open to traffic in both directions for most of the construction period, with short closures required for resurfacing.

It said closing the road for longer periods would have a significant impact on the wider network, including bus journey times for services using Westgate Street and Customhouse Street to reach Cardiff Bus Interchange.

The permanent scheme follows temporary changes introduced after nitrogen dioxide levels on Castle Street exceeded legal limits in 2018.

Those changes reduced the number of general traffic lanes from three to two, retained a westbound bus lane and introduced a two-way pop-up cycleway.

The council said nitrogen dioxide levels subsequently fell from 45 micrograms per cubic metre to 29.

Separately, the James & Jenkins inbound bus stop on Station Road will be closed on Monday, September 21 because of gas works, affecting the 24, 101 and 102 services.

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.