‘Sustainable’ transport plan could worsen city traffic, councillor warns

Kieran Molloy

A councillor has raised concerns that a scheme to create a “sustainable transport corridor” between two Welsh cities could end up increasing congestion in one of the cities.

Plans to create a sustainable transport corridor between Cardiff city centre and Newport are currently under discussion by Cardiff Council.

In an environmental scrutiny committee held by Cardiff Council to discuss the first phase of the scheme the leader of the city’s Conservative Group, Cllr John Lancaster, raised concerns the scheme could produce more congestion in the city.

He said: “It seems to me, in an attempt to ease congestion, you’re creating a number of pinch points where the current road goes from either two lanes to one or three lanes to two.

“In my mind that would have the overall effect of increasing congestion.”

The councillor then cited a section of the council report covering the scheme.

Under a section called “current challenges and issues”, the report reads: “Cardiff’s constrained road network, alongside concurrent schemes, creates risks of congestion during and after construction, although transport modelling has informed the design.”

In response a Cardiff Council officer, Philip Belcher,  said “additional pedestrian facilities” were being introduced at Park Place junction including two additional “crossing facilities” to “mirror pedestrian demand” at the junction.

The officer continued that by reallocating the cycleway to the northern side of West Grove junction and changing the staging sequence of the traffic lights has “meant that [the council] has been able to improve that junction so overall it balances out [for this] particular phase”.

Another officer, Claire Moggridge, said: “A lot of the challenge will actually be during construction.”

She continued: “In many respects a bit of pain but actually we create the additional capacity before we move back west along the junction.”

Ms Moggridge added that, through changes to some other junctions, the council will “try to redirect traffic via more desired routes”.

The proposals for the scheme include improved bus infrastructure, a new permanent cycleway, improved crossing points and pedestrian facilities, and changes to the highway and lane allocation.

The scheme is to go before the city’s cabinet in the near future.