Cycle lane against flow of traffic in St Annes would mean loss of parking spaces

Lancashire County Council is proposing changes to traffic and parking around the town end of St Andrew’s Road South to improve safety and convenience for cyclists.

The highways authority is to carry out public consultation from Thursday, March 2 to Friday, March 31 on the plans focused on St Andrew's Road South’s junctions with The Crescent, and Wood Street.

The proposal is to change traffic priority at the junction of St Andrew's Road South and Wood Street so that vehicles entering St Andrew's Road South from Wood Street would need to give way.

That would allow a cycle lane to be introduced on St Andrew's Road South starting just before the junction with Wood Street to allow cyclists to continue towards The Crescent against the flow of traffic on the one-way section at the top of St Andrew's Road South.

The County Council says cyclists heading in that direction currently have to turn off St Andrew's Road South onto Wood Street and along to Orchard Road and St Annes Road West to reach the same point via the one-way system, adding more than 400 metres to their journey.

It points out that it has been observed that, rather than take the longer route, some cyclists already continue against the one-way traffic, with one known incident of a cyclist being injured in a collision with a vehicle while making such a manoeuvre.

It is also proposed to remove some of the parking bays on St Andrews Road South near Wood Street to accommodate the extra road width needed for the cycle lane, and to introduce a new loading bay further towards The Crescent to serve businesses. It is also proposed to remove one parking bay on The Crescent to improve visibility at the junction.

County Coun Rupert Swarbrick, Lancashire’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The changes we're proposing to make in this area aim to remove what is currently quite a significant barrier to cyclists, and is apparently contributing to some cyclists making a dangerous manoeuvre against the one-way flow of traffic at the top of St Andrew's Road South.

"We have a duty to look at how we can improve safety where issues such as this are identified, and while reducing availability of parking is not something we take lightly, some bays would need to be removed as part of this proposal.

"The area around the junction of St Andrew's Road South and Wood Street is also currently quite congested, and our proposal to remove some of the parking, while necessary to accommodate the cycle lane, would also make this junction safer and easier to negotiate.

"I am grateful to people for taking the time to look at what we're proposing and give us their views. If there are any objections, they will be outlined in a report for cabinet to consider."