Bristol: Airport Road, Rail & Access Issues

[TheLocalYokel]

Yes, Arrow Cars has the new contract.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Portway

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-Po ... story.html

The latest pronouncement of Bristol's controversial elected mayor is to close the Portway to motor traffic on five Sundays this summer in order to allow cyclists and pedestrians to enjoy a traffic-free environment.

The Portway is the western end of the A 4 and is an arterial road that runs from the M 5 junction at Avonmouth along the River Avon bank and through the Avon Gorge for about six miles into the city.

It is heavily used by airport passengers coming from/to the South West, the Midlands and South Wales, including the Bristol Airport National Express coach from/to Cardiff and Newport.

 

[Aviador]

Sounds like he's a bit of a bright spark. Are there any favorable diversion routes?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Sounds like he's a bit of a bright spark. Are there any favorable diversion routes?

There are with the obvious one taking traffic over Bristol's Downs, a huge grass area above the Avon Gorge with enough room for its own football league that has dozens of pitches. This is also an area where the public love to go walking, cycling and generally enjoying the stunning scenery. Traffic will also route through central areas if they us The Downs.

The Portway usually shuts once a year on Sundays for the cliff sides through the gorge to be inspected. That's a proper reason to close it.There is also another Sunday when it's shut for a bicycle day. It looks as though Mayor Ferguson's latest proposals are for additional closure days.

 

[superking]

Sounds like he's a bit of a bright spark. Are there any favorable diversion routes?

There are with the obvious one taking traffic over Bristol's Downs, a huge grass area above the Avon Gorge with enough room for its own football league that has dozens of pitches. This is also an area where the public love to go walking, cycling and generally enjoying the stunning scenery. Traffic will also route through central areas if they us The Downs.

The Portway usually shuts once a year on Sundays for the cliff sides through the gorge to be inspected. That's a proper reason to close it.There is also another Sunday when it's shut for a bicycle day. It looks as though Mayor Ferguson's latest proposals are for additional closure days.

junction 19 of the m5,lots get off there,but its all country lanes etc if you cut across towards nailsea. if you take the a 369 towards bristol and pick up on thje long ashton bypass,you can choose if you go the country route or go via the out skirts of bristol via ashton vale.
dont forget the portway also closes for the bristol marathon once a year.

 

[Aviador]

Sounds like a jungle if you're like me and not from the area.

 

[tpm]

As I understand it, these additional closures will be around days where there's a closure anyway due to Green Capital events. The Portway gets closed for other occasions as well, and also when there are accidents. The A369 route is pretty straight forward really, the difficult part is making your way from Long Ashton through South Bristol onto the A38 without taking a wrong turn somewhere 🙂 (but once the South Bristol Link between the A370 and A38 is built that won't be a problem any longer either)

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Roadworks

With a record summer in prospect for BRS the access issues might be getting worse this year.

I heard on the local radio this morning that the temporary traffic lights on the A 38 at Bedminster Down for yet more water company operations will remain in place until September.

About half a mile further along the A 38 towards the airport is the location for the junction of the new South Bristol Link Road and the A38, with the link road due for completion late next year. When I passed along there yesterday there were already temporary traffic lights in place along the A 38.

The Redcliffe roundabout in the central area, a route used by the A1 Flyer, is currently being excavated in connection with the new Metrobus route. This means the Flyer will potentially encounter three obstructions along its route.

When I drove past BRS yesterday I noticed some large electronic signs saying that traffic lights would be in position next week on the A 38 from the roundabout for the Silver Zone northwards for a few hundred metres. Does anyone know that if this is related in any way to the airport or is it merely roadworks of some nature?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When I drove past BRS yesterday I noticed some large electronic signs saying that traffic lights would be in position next week on the A 38 from the roundabout for the Silver Zone northwards for a few hundred metres. Does anyone know that if this is related in any way to the airport or is it merely roadworks of some nature?

I was out that way today and noticed that the A 38 has been resurfaced along this stretch - obviously the reason for the electronic warning signs.

I walked around the back of the airport to Winters Lane where the watchers gather to enjoy the aircraft activity and the rough ground at the side of the road has been partly covered in tarmac, a legacy it seems of the pipe laying that went on in recent weeks. Dotted white lines along the edge of the carriageway for about two hundred metres at that point also indicate a 'parking zone' for the watchers, a sign perhaps of official recognition that aircraft enthusiast and others use the area in large numbers.

The overall effect is one of improvement.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Airport Flyer

I noted that two of the Flyer Volvo buses have been replaced by standard First single deckers this week. This time of year the Flyers can be loaded to capacity and I wonder how the standard buses cope with all the luggage.

The 12-strong Flyer fleet is only four-five years old but some of the vehicles are beginning to look (and sound at times) a bit dowdy. Double deckers would seem to be an ideal replacement but I'm told such vehicles could not get under the canopy at Temple Meads to service the Flyer stop there.

The road works on the Flyer route -currently road resurfacing at West Street, Bedminster with temporary traffic control, the water works on the A 38 at Bedminster Down and the long term South Bristol Link road works and temporary lights further along the A 38 - are all making timekeeping extremely difficult. It's a frequent occurrence to see two, sometimes three, Flyers travelling close together.

It also has the effect of hindering the usual 'always a Flyer waiting to depart at BRS' with buses held up in traffic. A week or two ago I saw nearly 100 people waiting at the airport Flyer stop for the best part of 20 minutes for the next bus to arrive. The Bath A4 Air Decker and Wales National Express service 216 have also been negatively impacted by the roadworks at times.

I have noticed a new initiative though at the Flyer airport stop - at least I think it's new; I haven't noticed it before. There is a real time display of trains departing Temple Meads complete with platform number.

 

[kraktoa]

Drivers coming from Bristol on A38 are no longer allowed to turn right at the traffic signals into Downside Road. Its a habit people are finding difficult to break. Rather than turn around at the roundabout they are still trying to turn right at thenew lights.

Enforcement action needed i think to change the habits.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Drivers coming from Bristol on A38 are no longer allowed to turn right at the traffic signals into Downside Road. Its a habit people are finding difficult to break. Rather than turn around at the roundabout they are still trying to turn right at thenew lights.

Enforcement action needed i think to change the habits.

No doubt some take a chance whilst others aren't concentrating properly on their driving and miss the new rule at this junction.

Familiarity ought to help with many drivers but those who want to take a chance will continue to do so and it's those that enforcement might make think twice. The snag is that with the ever dwindling numbers of police officers I doubt that this would be a police priority.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The new traffic lights at the junction of the A 38 and Downside Road have been switched off and covered with hoods. Presumably they are defective in some way. I wonder why someone can't sort them out quickly.

 

[kraktoa]

I dont think they have been commissioned yet fully. I have seen them working just once in the past 2 weeks. Rest of the time they are covered and it is a free for all as before.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I drove past a couple of times last week and they seemed to be working then. I did see someone I took to be an engineer sitting under an umbrella (not sure if he was expecting rain or sun) next to the lights on one of the occasions apparently monitoring them.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The annual Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is being hailed as the most successful in its 37-year history. On Saturday afternoon people were entering the site at the rate of 5,000 every 20 minutes with the result that the organisers eventually took the decision to close the site as it was full. This has never happened before.

The result left many thousands of people in cars and on special buses unable to gain admittance and jammed over much of the city and its approach roads.

One local newspaper report spoke of a driver taking two and a half hours to travel the eight miles from Bristol Airport to the city centre on Saturday afternoon. I wonder whether this had any effect on passengers reaching the airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Airport Consultative Committee

The minutes of the last meeting of the above (on 29 July this year) have been published on the BRS website.

The new traffic lights at the junction of Downside Road and the A 38 were mentioned. The airport CEO said that there had been an issue 'which has since been addressed'.

The airport's planning manager said the traffic lights had been turned off temporarily 'due to excessive queues'. She said that some drivers were ignoring the no right turn signs. She went on to say that the new arrangements 'generally appear to be working'. More testing is required though which will take place next month and include school traffic.

At lunchtime today the traffic bulletin on the BBC local radio station mentioned heavy traffic at Lulsgate with no apparent reason such as an accident. It seems they are not aware of the legacy of the new traffic lights.

 

[superking]

i heard that on the radio as well. if i had a phone on me i would have phoned the radio station and told them the reason as in traffic lights. yet another road upgrade into a shambles.

 

[Aviador]

I'm not knowledgeable of the area enough to know, but could a roundabout have worked better? I always find the traffic is much more free flowing where you get roundabouts as opposed to traffic lights. In fact, locally to me, we even have traffic lights controlling the flow of traffic on roundabouts, I'm not overly convinced they work well either.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There are a lot of roundabouts in the Bristol area that are traffic-light controlled but, like you, I'm not convinced that traffic controlled roundabouts work well.

The junction in question is a reasonably busy (at certain times of the day) side road joining the A 38. A roundabout would therefore be a just a three-road roundabout.

Until the traffic lights were installed there were times when the side road experienced lengthy queues of traffic waiting to access the A 38, with airport-bound traffic having to turn right across both traffic lanes of the A 38. That could be extremely problematical for drivers at busy times with long waiting times to get out.

In theory traffic lights seem a good idea but practically they seem to have caused more problems than they've solved at certain times of the day.

There are two roundabouts nearby on the A 38 (neither traffic light controlled): one is at the main entrance to the airport about 150 metres from the problem junction and has recently been made easier for traffic (in theory at least), and the other is half a mile further south at the junction with the south apron approach road which also gives access to a major airport car park, Bristol Flying Centre and various other aviation-related facilities.

The snag with a roundabout at the junction in question is that it lies in a dip with the A 38 approaching down sharp hills in both directions,