Council unveils £35m scheme to reduce Exeter congestion

MAJOR plans to transform Exeter's roads in a £35m congestion-busting scheme have been unveiled.

The initiative includes a new park and ride on the outskirts of Alphington, additional bus lanes and the doubling up of outbound lanes at Alphington and Countess Wear, the Echo can exclusively reveal.

City residents are to be asked what they think of the scheme when Devon County Council organises a series of public exhibitions on the plans.

Full details of the times and venues of public exhibitions are due to be released this week and the council is to submit a bid to the Department for Transport for funding to cover the majority of the scheme's cost.

But most residents questioned by the Echo were doubtful that the plans would have any effect on congestion. The park and ride scheme has already attracted controversy as the site for 870 cars would be built on part of one of Exeter's valley parks on a field currently owned by the Newbury family of Oaklands Riding School.

The scheme would also involve a dedicated bus lane into the city from the new park and ride to just north of Alphington Cross junction.

Other proposals include:

Two lanes outbound from Marsh Barton Road to just south of Church Road.

The provision of two continuous lanes outbound from the Acorn junction down to Exe Bridges.

The provision of two continuous lanes outbound on Bridge Road from the Countess Wear junction to Matford roundabout in conjunction with a new off-road cycle/pedestrian link from Exeter Canal to Glasshouse Lane.

Two lanes outbound in Topsham Road from its junction with School Lane to Countess Wear roundabout.

A toucan crossing, for pedestrian and cyclists, between the Beefeater and the garage on Topsham Road.

The plans for Topsham Road and Bridge Road were not welcomed by staff at Poppys Flowers.

David Drew, owner of the shop, in Topsham Road, said: "Bus lanes don't work. At the moment in Topsham Road you have a small bit of bus lane from the Barrack Road junction but the bus has to queue along with all the other cars going past County Hall before it can reach the bus lane.

"All this new plan will do is make a queue two cars wide rather than the one car wide one we have at the moment.

Margaret Drew, David's wife, said: "The trouble is that there is no overall strategy with these plans, it is just a little bit here and there.

"The traffic flowed much better when the lights were out recently on the Countess Wear roundabout. Putting in another crossing between the Beefeater and the garage on the roundabout will slow the traffic down even more.

"They would be better using the money they are to spend on this subsidising the buses so that more people use them."

Gemma Fowler, a florist at Poppys, said: "They are targeting the wrong thing with this plan.They would be far better bringing in dedicated school buses, like the yellow buses they have in America as, when the schools are out, the roads are much quieter."

Pamela Hill, who has lived in Topsham Road since 1981, said: "The road was really quiet when I first moved in. Now it is terrible.

"They should do more to encourage people out of their cars, rather than making changes to the road."

A member of staff at the Beefeater, who did not wish to be named, thought the crossing between the hotel and the garage was a good idea. She said: "At the moment people take risks, weaving in and out of the traffic to get across the road, rather than walking down to the bridge, crossing there and walking all the way around to the garage."

Jill Owen, county councillor for Countess Wear, said that she had yet to study the proposals in detail but added that in principle she supported bus lanes for the city.

Cllr Owen said: "The whole reason why we put bus lanes in is to make buses more reliable which in turn attracts more people to buses.

"It is difficult. Exeter has got narrow streets and it was controversial when we put bus lanes in the first part of Topsham Road. I think we have to be quite bold as it does get very congested at certain times of the day."

Alphington and Cowick residents were also sceptical about the plans for the park and ride on Alphington Spur and the two lanes outbound from the city.

Joy Nield 77, who has lived in the area for about 35 years , said: "I am against the park and ride scheme because it will mean the loss of part of the valley park.

"And the traffic is not too bad coming out of the city.

"They would be better to have two lanes going in to the city."

Tracey Webber, who has lived on Cowick Lane for the past 17 years, said: "Some days it can take me 15 minutes to get from my house to Sainsbury's.

"To be honest, I don't know what would cure the problems on Alphington Road but I am against putting the park and ride in Newbury's field.I used to keep a horse there and I think the loss of that field is disgusting."

Vanessa Newcombe, county councillor for Alphington, is also against the loss of the field.

Cllr Newcombe told the Echo: "Working patterns are changing with more people beginning to work from home so that in 10 years time the amount of traffic may be very different and yet they are planning to destroy a really beautiful piece of land.

"All the other park and ride sites are on industrial estates and I don't understand this concept of putting a massive car park on fields.

"I can see from an environmental point of view that they want less cars in the city but why do that at the expense of the environment?

"I agree with two lanes outbound from Marsh Barton Road as you want to get cars out of the city so I won't oppose that but I am against the park and ride on this site."

A spokesman for Devon County Council said: "We are planning a series of public exhibitions on the Exeter Principal Urban Area scheme, which is a key scheme, outlined in Devon County Council's Local Transport Plan, for tackling congestion in Exeter.

"The scheme is a package of measures including proposals for a new Park and Ride site at Ide, improvements to the Alphington Road corridor, Western Way and, to the east of the city along Topsham Road, Bridge Road and Countess Wear.

"The county council will welcome people to the exhibitions and is looking forward to an open exchange and input of public views on its plans."