Road Clippings Apr-June '99Road Clippings Apr-June '99Drivers quizzed in major road survey (T&A, 15/6/99)
Hazards of bus travel (Letters, Aire Valley Target, 10/6/99)
Dangers of more traffic on our roads (Letters, Aire Valley Target, 10/6/99)
'We have to live in real world' (Letters, Aire Valley Target, 10/6/99)
Progress on relief road is essential (Letters, Aire Valley Target, 27/5/99)
Reduce roads to halt the traffic (Letters, Aire Valley Target, 20/5/99)
Air pollution facts don't add up (Letters, Aire Valley Target, 20/5/99)
Bingley relief-road (Letters, T&A, 14/5/99)
New Bypass 'to cut pollution' (Aire Valley Target, 29/4/99)
Plan for buses to beat the traffic (T&A 31 May, 1999)
Small ideas have a role to play too (T&A Editorial, 31 May, 1999)
Aire Valley Target, 29/4/99
Bingley desperately needs a relief road - that's the message from campaigners angry at claims that it would cause more problems than it would solve. The Wharfedale Environmental Trust says the long-awaited Bingley bypass, which was given Government approval last autumn, would create more traffic and increase pollution.
The trust also attack plans for an east of Otley relief road, included in Leeds' draft Unitary Development Plan.
But those in favour of the roads say traffic is already choking the town centres and that the roads are desperately needed to reduce congestion and would cut pollution.
Shipley MP Chris Leslie said an analysis by Bradford council's environmental protection division predicted Bingley's bypass, due to be open by 2004/2005, would improve the town centre's air quality with decreased levels of potentially harmful substances such as benzene, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulates.
He said: "The road will cut air pollution because instead of queuing through the town centre, traffic will be moving at 405omph - that will cut journey times and traffic that's moving doesn't emit as much pollution as vehicles standing still."' But he added that once bypasses are built was important to take advantage of quieter town centres by developing initiatives such as improved public transport services and cycle routes.
Wharfedale Environmental Trust spokesman Geof Jones said: 'All new roads generate extra traffic and that would create more pollution and we think that would be an environmental disaster.
"If the Otley relief road's built it would be to the detriment of other places like Ilkley, Pool and Huby because it would help create a fast corridor down the Wharfe Valley and an alternative route to the AI and M62."
The £2.3 million road would have to be funded privately and Leeds City Council's revised draft UDP also includes-an associated allocation of 20 hectares of land to the east of Otley for up to 400 new homes.
Councillor John Eveleigh (Lab, Otley and Wharfedale) said: "Otley's crying out for this road - the town centre's a nightmare most days of the week - and the environmental improvements to the town centre would be quite considerable."
Letters, T&A, 14/5/99
SIR - Yet again T&A reporting (April 26) on Bingley road matters conveyed naked propaganda instead of accurate fact,
Emphatically, a Bingley by-pass has not been proposed officially for over five years now Yet T&A headlines persist in so deluding the public! The T&As dogged promotion of the Bingley road is transparently at odds with national public opinion trends and government policies. It just apes the part of Bradford's political and business community that harbours Victorian views.
Valid traffic pollution assessments encompass wide areas and many years. The pollution analysis Chris Leslie is so keen to (mis)quote refers to one spot on Bingley Main Street and one year. Pollution levels would increase sharply each year with the proposed road in almost ALL areas of Bingley over 25 metres from that spot and the current A650 alignment, and also in Cottingley Nab Wood, Saltaire, Shipley, Heaton and Crossflatts, a fact singularly omitted from your story. This is especially so when account is taken of the extra 16,000 vehicles daily that the new road would induce through Bingley.
By-passes or new road construction rarely solve traffic problems. Traffic reduction does and is achievable when supported by informed journalism.
A J Plumbe, Oakwood Drive, Singley.
( Editor's note.. "Our story of April 26 referred to the "Bingley relief road" in the text. The word "by-pass"- which Mr Plumbe correctly infers is no longer the project's official title - was used in the headlinefor obvious, space-saving purposes. Whatever we call it, our readers know which scheme we mean: the one which was approved by the Department of Transport last December and will divert traffic from Main Street on to a new stretch of road. ")
Letters, Aire Valley Target, 20/5/99
SIR - It's always a pleasure to correct the misapprehensions of Bingley Relief Road supporters like Keith Preston (Letters, May 13).
First, there are strong pressures on the Transport budget so there's no certainty the road will proceed.
Bingley's road proposals may see another twist.
Second, no bypass is being proposed so please don't harbour such dreams. Third, Mr Preston's maths is faulty: 100 per cent reduction in a journey time is a journey made in no time - an impossibility!
Yes, cars delivering schoolchildren exacerbate the peak and form about 15 per cent of such flows though add disproportionately more to congestion.
Fourth, building roads just induces more of the traffic Mr Preston apparently abhors, 40 per cent more through Bingley.
Fifth, Bingley's shopping demise is partly due to local road building attracting Bingley residents to shop outside Bingley.
The lesson is reduce the access or road space and traffic disappears.
A J Plumbe, Bingley.
Letters, Aire Valley Target, 20/5/99
SIR - MP Chris Leslie is quite wrong when he claims that the Bingley relief road will reduce pollution in Bingley (Letters, April).
In fact the model used by the Council's environmental protection division predicts the road will produce a nine per cent increase in air pollution across Bingley as a whole.
The Council report referred to only one point on Bingley Main Street where there would be a reduction.
The pollution 'peak' is shifted north east by the opening of the new road. The railway line will mark a crude boundary between pollution winners and losers, with increased pollution levels over the main residential areas.
Full details of the pollution study and how it works can be found on the Internet at www.kdis.legend.org.uk/road/relief.html
Tony Grogan, Albion Street, Bradford 1.
Letters, Aire Valley Target (27/5/99)
SIR - In recent months your letters page has been swamped with contributions from the usual anti-Relief road protesters. We live in a democracy and it is reasonable for them to have their views aired in the local newspaper, however obscure and outdated they may be.
But from time to time, it would be nice if the letters page could reflect the majority opinion that the Bingley Relief Road is necessary as part of a package of measures together with local public transport improvements, if we are to reduce congestion, pollution, road accidents and damage to the local economy.
I fought long and hard to secure the go-ahead for the Bingley Relief Road from this
Government. At a recent meeting with the Transport Minister I was told work is due to start in 2001-2002. Hopefully, this will mean that the new road will be finished by around 2004-5. I am also hopeful that further advanced works may be possible shortly, which could help to reduce the construction period.
If more progress is to be made, continuing support from the public, businesses and local organisations remains essential
Christopher Leslie MP Saltaire Road, Shipley
T&A 31 May, 1999
Plans to make public transport more attractive by opening special bus lanes through Shipley have been unveiled by the council.
The initial draft plans are part of a bid to produce a strategy for integrated transport in the Aire Valley.
The aim of the integrated strategy is to look at ways of improving public transport now the Bingley Relief Road has got the go ahead.
The council will also try to make sure that traffic congestion through Saltaire and Shipley is not made worse by the new road.
Bradford Council senior engineer John Firby said the proposed lanes, which are likely to cost more than £100,000, would cover various sections of the A650 between Nab Wood and Heaton.
He said he hoped the new lanes will be installed by next spring, with the Bradford-bound sections operational during the morning peak period and the outbound stretches being used during the afternoon rush of traffic.
But Mr Firby stressed that the plans, drawn up by the council on behalf of the Highways Agency, were still in the very early stages, adding: "They are by no means settled and set and there will be a full consultation process as required by traffic regulation orders."
Shipley MP Chris Leslie said: "I absolutely welcome anything that makes public transport more attractive, particularly at rush-hour.
"This will mean buses will have priority almost all the way through from Nab Wood. It will improve journey times for passengers and, hopefully, when drivers see buses zoom past them they'll realise they'd be better off using public transport."
Mr Leslie said his only concern would be to try and ensure congestion for Bradford-bound traffic approaching Saltaire roundabout was not worsened by the scheme.
Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East), deputy chairman of Bradford's transportation, planning and design committee, said: "This is the way forward - we can't just sit back and watch the increase in car use in this city because eventually it will come to a standstill.
"We've got a responsibility to encourage people to use other forms of transport by making it more attractive."
David Ford, secretary of Shipley Green Party, said: "Bus lanes are much-needed to get people out of the their cars and are to be welcomed but we just need more of them."
The marketing director for the First Bradford bus company, Brandon Jones, said: "Road congestion is increasing all the time and that is of concern to public transport operators.
"We have to look at improved methods of transporting customers and that means bus priority measures such as the initiative in Shipley, which would improve reliability and enable us to provide a better service."
T&A Editorial, 31 May, 1999
The fact that building of the Bingley Relief Road is finally on the horizon is a source of great comfort for many people who. have long been concerned about the impact of traffic congestion in the area.
There is no doubt Bingley has been blighted by the relentless rush-hour queues. But moving traffic away from Bingley is just part of the equation. Other areas along the A650 will continue to suffer from the pressure of ever increasing traffic unless action is taken.
Experts are particularly keen to ensure traffic in Saltaire and Shipley is not made worse as a result of the new road.
Ultimately, any solutions will involve encouraging people out of their cars and on to buses and trains. Bus lanes are among the first suggestions.
The run-up to building and opening the road provides a unique opportunity to take a long, hard look at transport problems in the Aire Valley.
There are unlikely to be any other solutions on the scale of the new relief road - rather small-scale solutions like the bus lanes suggested for the area between Heaton and Nab Wood, which will help slowly tip the balance in favour of public transport.
However small scale these solutions may be, they will have an important role to play. And there is no doubt the success of the transport strategy now being drawn up is essential to every community on the A650 corridor.
Letters, Aire Valley Target, 10/6/99
SIR - As a person who sits in a car, nose to tail, along the A650, Shipley to Bingley every weekday, I read with interest the article regarding draft plans for bus lanes for Bradford-bound traffic. I welcome the plans.
When I catch the bus to Bingley, the bus lane at Cottingley Bar lights certainly speeds the journey and is more effective than car use. So why don't I use the bus every day?
Because I cannot guarantee getting on one. Three buses full of school children regularly pass my stop without stopping, leaving me and lots of others there for about 30 minutes. When a bus does finally stop, the queues which have accumulated at every stop along the route slow the bus down to about twice the time the journey should take. So the service either needs more school specials or just more buses to accommodate three large schools on this route.
At nearly £3 per day for myself and my daughter to travel by bus, I need more reassurance that we can arrive on time before I ditch my car. If the £100,000 bus lane scheme creates an increase in fares, then perhaps I never will.
Anne Dewhirst, Scarborough Road, Shipley.
Letters, Aire Valley Target, 10/6/99
SIR - It is not the contorted logic of our MP Chris Leslie which has made me leave the Labour Party but the tawdry record of his party as a whole.
The breakdown of life on earth - which is not some future science-fiction scenario but happening all around us - has about the same priority with the present Government as it did under the Tory one.
I not only have left the Labour Party but have ceased to vote for it in the light of the distrust I feel for many of its leaders, for their unwillingness to redress the huge inequality between the rich and poor and their slyness about freedom of information.
Chris Leslie needs to answer two simple questions about the central Bingley "relief" road: Does the construction of more major roads facilitate or discourage the growth of more road traffic? And does the human health and resource depletion aspect of our ecology improve or become downgraded by an increase in road traffic? Or does life for all of us become more dangerous?
Is Bingley different to the rest of the world.
Graham Carey, Granville Terrace, Bingley.
Letters, Aire Valley Target, 10/6/99
SIR - I, for one, fully support Mr Leslie. My family came to live in Baildon in August 1972 and even then there were public meetings about an Aire Valley road.
The general scheme was to link the Ml with the M6 via Bradford, Shipley, Skipton and Kendal. We have wasted thousands and delayed this worthwhile project. What on earth do the others have to offer? They may have an agenda to preserve their own version of the good life, but the rest of his have to live in the real world, which includes useful work and efficient business.
Keep up the good work, Mr Leslie!
David Joy, Lansdowne Close, Baildon.
T&A, 15/6/99
Rush-hour motorists and bus and train users are being targeted in a survey aimed at improving public transport in the Aire Valley corridor.
The two-week campaign began today and thousands of questionnaires will be handed out to drivers at traffic lights on Haworth Road and Bingley Road.
The study is being jointly carried out by Metro, Bradford Council and the rail and bus operators. It asks 18 questions ranging from details of the journey taken and parking to opinions on bus and train services and cycling.
Bradford Council senior engineer John Firby said: "We are keen not to cause delays. We have signs for drivers asking them to accept our survey and we run along from car to car when the lights go red and people are stopped."
He added: "We want to encourage people to send back their questionnaires so we can make improvements to the systems. The whole of the Aire Valley has a congestion problem. If we can improve the quality of services, more people might use public transport and free up the roads."
The study follows one carried out last month in the Wakefield Road and Manchester Road areas of Bradford.
Future targets include Commercial Street and Box Corner, Otley Road in Baildon, buses travelling along the A650 corridor routes, and trains from Keighley and Shipley.