The Bradley Stoke Journal

Roadworks at the Aztec West Roundabout on the A38 Gloucester Road are set to continue for “two to three weeks” according to an unofficial source at South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

Signs notifying motorists of impending work to install a bus lane on the northbound carriageway of the A38 south of the roundabout had been displayed in the vicinity for a number of weeks but many drivers were taken by surprise when lane restrictions were imposed on the roundabout itself on Monday morning.

The closure of one of the three lanes on the roundabout between the Bradley Stoke Way and Aztec West Business Park exits led to massive tailbacks, stretching back onto to the M4 and M5 motorways during the morning rush hour.

The work is also having a knock-on effect on traffic leaving Bradley Stoke, with longer than normal tailbacks being experienced along Bradley Stoke Way.

Traffic leaving the business park during the evening peak hours is also being affected due to the closure of one of the three lanes exiting onto the roundabout.

The work being done on the roundabout itself will add an extra general traffic lane for northbound traffic on the A38 making a right turn into Bradley Stoke Way.

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Work has started on the installation of real-time information displays at bus shelters on the showcase no. 73 route in Bradley Stoke.

Shiny new silver bus shelters were erected along the route last year, replacing the familiar green shelters seen elsewhere in the town.

In contrast to the old shelters, the new shelters have been funded by the Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN) and will be maintained by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) rather than Bradley Stoke Town Council.

Each of the new shelters incorporates an equipment box intended to allow the connection of a real time information display and the first of these, at the shelter opposite the surgery on Brook Way, is now being wired up with an electricity supply.

A spokesperson at SGC confirmed to The Journal that work to install the real-time displays has started and is set to be completed in the 2010/2011 financial year.

Elsewhere on the 73 route, work is about to start on a new northbound bus lane on the A38 Gloucester Road between Little Stoke and the Aztec West Roundabout. The work is expected to take six months, with the projected completion date currently set at 6th October.

Local bus operator First Group has announced further cuts to services between Bradley Stoke and Bristol city centre.

The 73 service, which currently runs every 12 minutes during off-peak day time hours from Monday to Saturday, will operate at a reduced frequency of every 15 minutes from Monday 8th February.

The company says it is making the changes to “improve punctuality”.

Other changes on the route will see a few extra early morning journeys serving Cribbs Causeway.

The latest cut back follows the axing of the 74 and 74X services in February last year, which led to then Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones describing the bus company’s actions as “death by a thousand cuts”.

The announcement is accompanied by a rare piece of good news for bus travellers: some multi-journey tickets are to become slightly cheaper. For example, the price of a First Day Adult Peak ticket will be reduced from £4.30 to £4 from Sunday 7th February.

Related link:

• Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

A scheme to add a bus lane on the northbound carriageway of the A38 between Little Stoke and the Aztec West Roundabout has been amended after a public consultation.

The scheme, first announced by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) in September, replaced an earlier proposal for a more comprehensive system of new bus and general traffic lanes on roads leading off the Aztec West Roundabout.

That earlier plan was abandoned after First Group changed the route of its 73 service so that it no longer entered the Aztec West Business Park.

The new scheme foresees the creation of a new bus lane (with no reduction in the number of general traffic lanes) on the A38 between the Little Stoke junction (near the Texaco filling station) and the Aztec West Roundabout.

The public consultation attracted 32 responses from individuals and business. The council says it also received two petitions opposing the scheme from residents and businesses in the Patchway and Bradley Stoke areas, containing a combined total of over 300 signatures.

Residents of properties along the A38 said they were concerned about the loss of the existing service lane, which they say helps them to merge into the traffic flow on the main road. They also complained about the loss of parking space and pointed out that customers of the Ambourne House Nursery would no longer be able to queue in the service lane whilst waiting to enter the premises.

The council says that it has now revised its plans following the public feedback:

• The bus lane will operate at peak hours only (7.30am – 9.30am and 4.00pm – 7.00pm)
• Residents will be allowed to pick up and set down passengers while the bus lane is in operation
• A bus lay-by made redundant by the scheme will converted to a limited waiting bay, primarily to serve as an overspill car park for the Ambourne House Nursery

The Journal Comments

While the proposed changes will undoubtedly speed bus journeys between Bristol and Aztec West (and beyond to Thornbury), they will bring little benefit for the residents of Bradley Stoke. It is therefore wrong for the council to present this scheme as a replacement for the earlier Aztec West bus lane scheme, which included two new general traffic lanes on Bradley Stoke Way between the Aztec West Roundabout and Woodlands Lane.

Those new general traffic lanes would have helped ease the notorious traffic congestion that occurs between Woodlands Lane and the Aztec West Roundabout.

SGC has failed to respond to The Journal’s request for an official  statement on the status of the original Bradley Stoke Way plans, but a council representative manning the recent North Fringe Rapid Transit exhibition at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre inferred that the original scheme has indeed been superseded by the rapid transit plans.

The bus rapid transit system, which is subject to government funding and will not be built before 2013/2014, will see two dedicated bus lanes running between the Aztec West Business Park and Bristol city centre. Regrettably, there is currently no suggestion that this scheme will include any improvements for general traffic flow on Bradley Stoke Way.

Staff from South Gloucestershire Council will be manning an exhibition of proposals for a bus rapid transit system in Bradley Stoke this weekend.

The exhibition, part of the public consultation on the “North Fringe to Hengrove Packge”, takes place tomorrow (Saturday 5th December)  between 9am and 12 noon at Bradley Stoke Library.

Information published on the website of the West of England Partnership website suggests that a dedicated rapid transit bus lane could be constructed along the full length of Bradley Stoke Way:

In Bradley Stoke, it is likely that the rapid transit would make use of the land reservations already in place along Bradley Stoke Way.

The statement is believed to refer to the strip of undeveloped land along the north-east side of the road that was previously foreseen for a tram system – until a spat between South Gloucestershire Council and Bristol City Council put an end to the plans some years ago.

Related link: North Fringe Rapid Transport (The Journal)