Feasibility Study for the Industrial Area - Part 1 (PDF 5 MB)

The Council’s preferred route to/from the spine road of the study
area for abnormal loads is Malaya Drive. From Malaya Drive
there is a northbound route via Bath Street and Waverdale Drive,
then either west via the A187 Fossway or east via Neptune Road.
Notwithstanding the desire to reduce heavy vehicle traffic on
Walker Road and thus facilitate the regeneration of active
frontages, it appears that it will be inappropriate to re-route all
heavy traffic on Fossway, as this will require substantial physical
alterations to the carriageway and dramatically change the nature
of that corridor.
6.3 Local Transport and Movement Audit
This section details the existing highways infrastructure, public
transport and cycle provision.
6.3.1 Existing highways infrastructure
The study area is mainly served by a single north-south spine
route consisting of Wincomblee Road/White Street/Fisher Street
which is accessed from the A186 (currently a major arterial route)
at four points. The entire study area is subject to a 30mph speed
limit.
A186
The A186 Walker Road/Station Road/Bath Street is a 10.5 metre
wide single carriageway road carrying some 11,000 vehicles per
day. Along Station Road traffic flow is interrupted due to on-street
parking, and a high number of junctions. Further north along
Bath Street, there is less interruption to traffic flow.
The A186 forms priority junctions with Malaya Drive and Station
Road, both of which have good visibility and adequate geometry
to accommodate HGVs. Both also have right-turn ghost islands,
although the one at Malaya Drive is narrow.
At Welbeck Road the main road forms a four-arm roundabout,
with a small, kerbed central island, that is built to minimum
design standards in terms of inscribed circle diameter and central
island and has poor deflection in all directions.
Internal study area
The highway infrastructure in the area to the south of, and
including, Malaya Drive is generally better than in the remainder
of the study area, a reflection of the improvements already carried
out there. The carriageways and footways are in good condition,
and the junctions appear to operate satisfactorily. However, the
route to the Walker Public Quay is convoluted due, in part, to the
steep topography of the area. A new link from this point north,
perhaps through to Staithes Street, would significantly improve
accessibility to this area.
Additionally, the straight road alignments encourages high
speeds, and footways are present on the east side only of both
Wincomblee Road and Nelson Road. The pedestrian link
between Wincomblee Road and Nelson Road, via steps, is in
need of maintenance, having overgrown vegetation, litter and
broken street lighting. Further, there may be operational
problems at the northern end of Nelson Road/Swan Road when
HGVs are off-loading. Malaya Drive has footway provision on the
southern side only.
North of Malaya Drive, Wincomblee Road narrows in width to
around 5.5 metres in places, with footways on both sides of
sub-standard width. The access junction to riverside frontages
off Wincomblee Road, located approximately 85 metres south
of the junction with White Street is currently an un-marked
priority junction of very poor standard. The junction has poor
visibility and a constrained geometry which creates operational
difficulties. HGVs were observed struggling to negotiate the
junction and significantly affecting other traffic when doing so.
A left-turn out of the junction would be difficult for cars and not
possible for HGVs due to the junction layout. The steep
topography in the vicinity of the junction means that
improvements would be difficult.
The junction of Wincomblee Road and White Street is priority
controlled. Swept path analysis at the junction indicates that a
FTA design articulated vehicle would have to encroach
significantly onto opposing traffic lanes when turning at the
junction. White Street has a relatively straight, wide
carriageway and wide footways on both sides, with relatively
few frontages and junctions, with the potential for high traffic
speeds.
Staithes Street provides access to riverside frontages, but
currently has tight radii at three bends in the road, partly a
result of the steep topography. The footways are in very poor
condition. However, the road does have a good, wide priority
junction with White Street, with a splitter island and there
appears to be space to improve the geometry of the road in the
vicinity of the junction.
The junction of White Street/Welbeck Road/Fisher Street is
currently a standard roundabout, with a central island built to
minimum standard. The junction has very poor deflection in
the north-south direction. Anecdotal evidence suggests that
large articulated HGVs are unable to perform a u-turn at the
junction. Swept path analysis confirms that a FTA design
articulated vehicle would struggle to perform a u-turn at the
junction. It is not, however, immediately apparent why u-turn
manoeuvres would be necessary at the junction. Welbeck
Road has a very wide, straight carriageway, with wide footways
on both sides.
Fisher Street has a reasonably wide carriageway, which has
been narrowed in the vicinity of its junction with Ambrose
Place. It has a relatively steep gradient in the vicinity of
Welbeck Road. High levels of frontage activity and traffic
calming measures interrupt traffic flow along this road. Further
north, at Neptune Road, the carriageway widens eventually
forming a standard roundabout junction with Maurice Road.
Traffic calming
Traffic calming has been implemented along Fisher Street in
the form of a single chicane, adjacent to Abingdon Road, and a
mini-roundabout at the junction with Oil Mill Road. However,
the implementations appear to have limited effect. The miniroundabout
has been installed with no alteration to the existing
geometry of the junction and with an over-runable central
island. Observations suggest that vehicles are still negotiating
the junction at inappropriate speeds. Swept path analysis
indicates that two FTA design articulated vehicles could pass
32 Colin Buchanan