Letter: Why this location for Smithfield Road crossing?
Thursday 4th November 2010, 8:33AM GMT.
Letter: For the first time in a while I drove along Smithfield Road from Frankwell to Castle Gates and could not believe the pedestrian crossing point newly built in the middle lane. Why?
Are they going to build shops along the river bank?
And people will be able to cross at this new brainwave to access them?
I can’t think of any reason anyone from any direction would want to cross at this point.
All it does is cause chaos to traffic having to change lanes from three lanes to two lanes then back to three lanes, and 100 yards on to four lanes.
I can only assume bonuses are paid for taxpayers’ money-wasting schemes. The whole thing is idiotic.
D Taylor
Shrewsbury
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If it is anything like the one they all wanted at Ford it will not be used. The one at Ford is ideal for crossing the busy road by the garage but every person I see cross further down the road , may have well saved the tax payers money.
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Personally i think this is ridiculous and dangerous, its already caused one bad accident and more will follow soon, there is no signage to inform you you are about to come across this deathly concrete eyesore! Frankly it’s just a case of the Local Authority spending its budget, ready for the tax year!
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I ran past it on Tuesday and suddenly there is an awful lot of signage around the road in front of the Shrewsbury Hotel.
Perhaps it is in the wrong place though because drivers at that point need to pay attention to all the traffic which is about to merge into the left hand lane.
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The signs have been up since the refuge appeared!
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got nothing better to do with the end of year budget got to spend what they got now. so everyone can see look they actually spending some money on a useless project again like the darwin statue :) shrewsbury wants city status this is why spending silly money on monuments and better traffic lights wow conserve energy you see how many lights on a traffic crossing by welshbridge it blinds you at night all those colours.
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Sorry, but the real reason is that these jobsworth council types couldn’t organise a p*** up in a brewery (old cliche, I know, but so apt!). They really havent got a clue, that’s why they work for the council, no self respecting business would touch them with a barge pole. Not to worry though, the cuts are coming soon!!
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Yawwwwn! predicatble response from someone who’s obviously swallowed a copy of the Daily Mail.
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Hi, I live in frankwell. Since this crossing has been installed, I have noticed that there is more and more traffic queueing in frankwell. I beleive that the reason for this is that there is less capacity on smithfield road as drivers are forced into the left hand lane.
I walk down smithfield road on my way to work and I have to cross this road, but I cross at either end by the lights and not via this crossing, as i would still need to negociate moving traffic.
As a local resident in this area I cannot see why this is required as all its doing is causing more of a bottle-neck in shrewsbury.
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Question for the council planners. Are we anti-car or pro-car? What’s the strategy? We’ve already got 12 feet wide pavements on Dogpole in place for the obesity epidemic. Now this {Euro driven no doubt} rubbish. This obstruction can only be seen as a crude attempt to clog the flow of traffic through the town. The vehicles know where they are trying to go but does the Highways Department?
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{Euro driven no doubt} Probably not, we have our own, home grown, idiots too. All coming up with schemes in towns and cities across the land to make life more difficult.
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I have often wanted to cross over around there so I can see a logic. I assume along with the much needed changes on Morris’s corner that I understand are to be made and which is diabolical for pedestrians at the moment, it will be a start to make Smithfield Road a part of the town instead of a rat run for cars.
It is a tragedy that this attractive stretch of river is completely dominated by traffic.
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But it’s not a “rat run for cars”, is it eva?
It’s a major artery for those drivers wishing to travel, say, from Porthill to Greenfields or, maybe, Battlefield, or, maybe, Shawbury.
Those drivers could, of course, use a link road from Shelton to Battlefield.
But, then again, you’d probably oppose that option also?
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I travel through Shrewsbury each morning along Smithfield Road and I don’t think the primary purpose of this island is for pedestrians.
Traffic travelling from the Frankwell direction over the Welsh Bridge see the second lane and treat that stretch of the road as a dual-carriageway and cut back in before the traffic lights by the bus station (or if they manage to be at the front of the right-hand lane at the lights will try to be first off and cut back in around the corner).
This dangerous rat race style of driving is on the increase on our roads and I’m totally in favour of road modifications which revolve around safety. OK, it may appear that traffic is restricted and therefore slower, but at least it’s safer.
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The problem is that they now do this dangerous manoeuvre twice.
What happens now is that traffic from the Welsh Bridge direction has to merge into a single lane in a much shorter distance then before. This has introduced more lane changes and more congestion for very little or no benefit.
If they wanted to slow traffic down and improve safety there are surely better ways of doing it. If the intention was to deter car use they have also failed as the buses now sit in longer queues and this obstruction is of no benefit to cyclists.
I also wonder if any of the traffic mismanagement team has visited this at night.
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Sshhh! Fool!
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I wont be long before someone is killed there. what a waste of taxpayers money in the present climate. Sack the numpty who thought this one up and save some money there.
I have never ever seen anyone try and cross the road there, it all worked before.
Bring common sense to bear please.
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A pedestrian was nearly killed there recently.
You are not likely to see someone crossing there agatha2 because it was too dangerous.
I know from attempting to in the past.
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It is just me or did they build it with those much larger kerbs because they were expecting it to be hit every now and again.
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The Council has long wanted to install a speed camera along Smithfield, but says the pavements are not wide enough to accommodate it. Perhaps the new island has been built just for that purpose? As regards pedestrians crossing, there are crossing points at the lights by the Welsh Bridge and by the bus station, not to mention the footbridge; is it because people want to have a closer look at the Darwin statue and can’t be bothered to walk a short distance to a safer crossing point?
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How do you cross Smithfield Road using the footbridge? Jump?
As you say there is a crossing which is actually rather dangerous for those who are not used to it at the Welsh Bridge and then an extremely long walk to the bus station for another crossing.
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The crossings at the Welsh Bridge end of Smithfield road are easily negotiated, even for those with sub-optimal intelligence.
Also, the walk to the bus station is no longer no matter what side of Smithfield Road one uses.
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I’m not sure this makes sense, surely the crossings at the Welsh Bridge are better with the push buttons and the green man than a refuge where the pedestrian has no priority. Whilst I think the lights at Welsh Bridge aren’t great it is still better than trying to cross the road whilst dodging cars.
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Well I have just come from seeing family and friends. I made a point of driving past there one day and I dont think its as bad as you all make out! A couple of days ago I know a man was knocked over at that crossing and a while before somneone was killed. I think it makes sense. Its not a race track…… ITS A TOWN CENTRE!! if the council put speed bumps down you would all moan. Maybe if people drove safer then this may not have been put in place!!
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Will,
No-one wants any road within the Severn loop to be a race track. Your comment is pure disingenuousness.
By the same token, no-one wants needless congestion engineering (which is what this is).
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It does seem that Shrewsbury has an obsession with cars and allowing cars to have access. Surely the quesiton is why is there 3 lanes of traffic along there?
Why not have 2 and open up the riverside path and add a proper extention to the cycle paths.
Why is there car access in front of the Armory and old Bar Severn? Surely a better idea is to stop vehicle access and make an area for pavement style cafe in front of the river.
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So. Pedestrianise the road past the Armoury, eh?
How would visitors to the swimming pool and gym fare after than then?
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Why didny they instal steps/ramp up to the footbridge from frankwell or is this a stealth traffic calming measure ?
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#15[ Why didny they instal steps/ramp up to the footbridge from frankwell or is this a stealth traffic calming measure ?]
Have you noticed how much space is required to create a ramp and steps Curlyjay?
This is an attempt to begin to reclaim the attractive river side area from it’s present isolation being cut off by provision for cars alone.It does need to be more pedestrian friendly and probably helps to reduce traffic speeds too.
The new changes that I believe are in the pipeline will hopefully be an improvement both for road users and pedestrians at the Welsh Bridge crossing.
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