East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood: Ideas put forward to solve complaints over heavy traffic

Bus gates, road blocks for motorists and street art are among a wide range of ideas being put to residents in east Bristol as part of a consultation for a so-called ‘liveable neighbourhood’.

The measures have been presented by Bristol City Council as ways to resolve concerns raised by the community over poor air quality, heavy traffic and walker and cyclist safety.

The Liveable Neighbourhood for east Bristol, which covers Barton Hill, Redfield and St George, is a pilot project aimed at giving people the choice over how their area looks, and a means of tackling problems.

Earlier this year a consultation survey was completed by around 1,500 people, and an interactive map attracted 550 comments. Now ‘solutions’ have been put forward as part of a ‘design tool kit’ which people will again have the opportunity to discuss.

A measure of traffic was also carried out in March and April, revealing high volumes of traffic on Church Road and Blackswarth Road as well as in nearby residential streets. The junction of Church Road and Blackswarth Road was also highlighted as a dangerous junction by residents.

The 16 proposed ‘solutions’ have been split into three groups; main roads, local streets and community assets.

Main roads

- Closure of side roads to traffic from a main road.

- Safer crossings which prioritise people walking and cycling, such as zebra crossings.

- Protected cycle lanes using measures such as different levels or bollards.

Local streets

- One-way streets into neighbourhoods

- Modal and diagonal filters, which are effectively road blocks with access only to pedestrians and cyclists

- Restrictions on car use around schools at certain times by use of collapsible bollards or moving barriers

- Pocket parks which are created within road blocks

- Camera-enforced bus gates to stop motorists and improve public transport journey times

Community assets

Bike and e-scooter parking, EV charge points, street lighting, street trees, street art, cycle hangars.

What next?

Each one of the measures has been given a summary and score card designed to start conversations when workshops take place in the autumn.

St George central councillor Nicola Beech is among those who have welcomed the latest stage of the project.

Last month fellow ward councillor Steve Pearce told BristolWorld: “Concerns over driver behaviour and rat runs through the area are issues I’m already aware of - the liveable neighbourhood will be an effective way of dealing with these problems.

“We all hope it will lead to people taking more active travel choices, whether they are taking the kids to school or going to work. We want to make the area safer and easier to use bikes and e-scooters.”

For more on the project, click here.