Railway plan replaces Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Thursday 13th January 2011, 11:31AM GMT.
A multi-million pound parkway railway station is set to be built instead of the North West Relief Road in a bid to reduce congestion in Shrewsbury.
A new report revealed yesterday that councillors are being urged to agree a halt to all work on the four-mile bypass as funding for the road has dried up.
Shropshire Council officers say they believe previous ideas for a toll road should also be forgotten about.
But they say the development of a new parkway rail station at Preston Boats, near Preston Island, linked to a new bus-based park and ride, may be a cheaper alternative as part of a £30 million package of measures.
The plans for the parkway station are contained in the Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Strategy (SITS).
The document also includes plans for urban traffic control, junction enhancements on both the inner ring road and outer by-pass, phased downgrading of the Smithfield Road route and real time traffic and car park vacancy information available to help road users choose the most appropriate route and/or car park.
A report to Wednesday’s cabinet says: “The proposed elements of the SITS are estimated to cost in the region of £30 million, substantially less than the NWRR.
“It is proposed that a start is made on the implementation of this package in 2011, funded through a combination of Integrated Transport Block capital funding, Local Sustainable Transport Fund, for which £560 million has been set aside in the four-year period to 2014-15, developer contributions and possibly Regional Growth Fund.”
The council wants to halt work on the NWRR scheme and concentrate on a £30 million package of highways projects to cut congestion.
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A cheaper alternative? A cheaper alternative that won’t work.
All over Britain, including Shropshire, bus and rail services that are not in major urban areas are being scaled down because people prefer the car. So this is going to be an expensive waste of money.
Shrewsbury needs the relif road, a glance at a map provides the obvious answer.
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maybe try and change their attitudes then, get them out of the car instead ???
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People don’t use the buses provided so why would they use an overpriced train?
That reief road should have been built years ago
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Build the relief road, not another park and ride PLEASE! As someone who has to drive through Shrewsbury town centre to get to work morning and night, with the endless queues, it would be so nice to go on the bypass.
It may be a slightly longer journey to work, but I’m sure it will be more economical than sitting in slow-moving traffic for anything up to 15 minutes.
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I am at a loss to see how a railway station will put a stop to all the HGVs on the northern A5 rat running through Ruyton-XI-Towns, Baschurch and Myddle to get to the A5 / M54 rather than going round the existing bypass. Also getting to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital from any of these villages is an 18 mile journey via the bypass and a time-wasting marathon via the town centre. How can we do that by train? I agree with Peter but people don’t just prefer the car, for some it is the only option.
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The inaccessibility of the hospital from northern Shrewsbury and nearby villages is surely one of the biggest reasons why some sort of link road is needed. I pity the chap who has a heart attack in Tesco at 5pm on a Friday. From Harlescott, Battlefield, Mount Pleasant, even Greenfields it is a nightmare to get to the RSH even in a non-emergency.
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awesome plan – that will be great for the town
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And this is going to improve road congestion in the north of Shrewsbury how???
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Is it April the 1st already?
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this will not stop the hgvs running up and down mount plesant road daily,openly flouting the weight restriction that is in place.
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I really don’t see how this is a better alternative to the NW Road???
Every morning (like Gaynor) I sit in the Coton Hill/Ellesmere Road traffic trying to get to the other side of town. Sometimes I have cut through leaton/fitz and across to Montford Bridge which is a good but hazardous route with cars and lorries having the same idea. One night back I must have counted 50 cars and lorries having the same idea as me and trying to miss out town centre congestion.
It’s simple…the NW Relief road isn’t just a suggestion….it’s a necessity!!!
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This parkway station has been talked about for years and simply will never happen.
The relief road – also talked about for years – is now not happening after millions (yes, millions) of pounds being spent on it.
Waste of money. But then, that’s the public sector for you.
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This gets better by the day, are they in la la land or what?
The relief road is the only option and solution that will solve Shrewsbury’s traffic congestion nightmare. I just wish they would wake up and open their eyes to this.
A railway is not going to solve it because the cost to use it will be extortionate!
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I though the train’s died off in the 1980′s?. People would still need to drive through the town to get to the train station…
Okay lets look at the scenario – you build this station – Yep nice. Then the commuter battles through town to the ‘park and ride’ and catches one of the few trains which will actually stop at the station only to find 2 mins later they will stop at Shrewsbury station for yet another delay, all this for an astronomical price. What a complete waste of time and money to even consider this.
Common sense dictates that the average person has some sense and would choose to save time and use their car. Thus the only way to clear the traffic would be to have a new road. – simples!
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Will one be able to get to the footer stadium by using this new railway facility or does one still need to use the omnibus?
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Am I missing something? Surely a bypass is used by people who want to BYPASS the town centre?? What is the point of a park and ride which will take people INTO the town centre? I’ve only lived here for 3 months and even I can see what a glaringly obvious waste of money this will be.
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Yes, you are missing something. If you build a station/park and ride that will take away the traffic that is going into the town centre, then the road is less busy for the through traffic. Your suggestion that all the traffic is bypassing Shrewsbury is demonstrably incorrect.
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What a lot of dinosaurs you are! First you get carried away by the spin “Here’s a shiny new station instead of a dull old road.”
Well, the road was dead anyway, and crucially it wouldn’t have made a huge difference to journey times in the town. Look at the figures. Even according to the consultants’ optimistic forecasts it would have taken out less than 30% of the traffic out of the Smithfield Road route, scarcely enough to notice. And only for a few years.
So let’s drop this idea that the NWRR would have solved our commuting problems. It just wasn’t true!
Whether a Parkway station will have a major impact, we’ll have to see. At least it won’t wreck a huge piece of really nice countryside like the NWRR would have. A small bit, granted, and not amazingly nice. I’ll give it a cautious thumbs up.
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When will these idiots actually do something beneficial that everybody wants?
Im all for innovative ideas but like someone else mentioned how exactly will a train stop the lorries from driving through the villages when all that is needed is to complete ring road?
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If fuel is going to get as expensive as they were claiming on R4 this morning then people will be forced off the road or to drive less purely due to cost.
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I hope Shropshire County officers are reading these comments.
This is just plain crazy. When will these people realize cars are here to stay. It is part of modern living (like it or lump it).
Building the bypass is the sensible thing to do. It serves motorists, motorcyclist, buses and HGV etc. It will relieve traffic congestion in the town which will enable people who want to shop and do business in town to have a more traffic free environment and a more pleasant experience of Shrewsbury than the present traffic jammed nightmare.
As far as a new railway station is concerned this is a total waste of money. it will be little used.
Just one more thing: How will people get to this station? Yes by car. THE CAR IS HERE TO STAY.
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isnt this exactly what all the protestors said years ago, in the mean time millions has been spent planning for something which couldnt ever have been afforded and now they admit the greener options were cheaper all along!
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I hope it’s at least as successful as the Telford International Rail Freight Terminal (let’s face it, it can’t do any worse).
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Really don’t see the point in One station. What happened to the 5 stations plan that was drawn up surely that would be the way forward and more benficial for the community than one station or a road?
1. A new Meole Brace Station.
Pros. A Park and ride station in the South of the town, will decrease traffic especially on Matchdays. Will serve Meole Brace retail park, Shrewsbury Town FC, 9 Hole Golf Course, Bannatynes health club, Power League and any future developments (900 houses is a town bigger than Craven Arms).
Cons. Don’t really see any its needed facility if Shrewsbury is to take astep forward and set the mark for a greener future.
2. Old Potts Way/Reabrook/Abbey Foregate
Pros. Will serve the Cineworld complex, Asda and other retailers along with Abbey Foregate.
Cons. No parking at the station would just be used as a station for getting on and off.
3. Town Centre.
pros. Its the centre the life of our town.
Platform 3 is rarely used apart from Chester Trains occasionally. platform 3 would be perfect to setup and automated terminal.
Cons: none
4. Ditherhington Flax Mill
Pros.
Whats ever happens to the flax mill is anyones guess, its been like it for a million years you would think. There is always talk of upgrading this area of town. If something special becomes of the flax mill then this is a good thing.
Cons. None anything to brighten up Ditherington is a good thing.
5. Harlescott
pros.
Decrease the traffic a lot more than one station as there would be a network of destinations. Not everyone coming from the north will want to be going into town, the cinema, football, meole retail park would be used indefinately from this part of town. peopl from the other end of town would use the retail services, superbowl, industries and the sports village from this end.
Other ideas
would be to divert the Aberystwyth line from a new Meole Brace Station along the A5 to the hospital have a stop put there and then follow the A458 down to Wattlesborough were it can rejoin the Aberystwyth line or another option would be it to take the route of the North West Relief road to a new Ditherington Station creating a circle route. The posibilities are endless and these debates have gone on for years. Its time to sort it out and make Shrewsbury a proper hub community like at lot of leading European Citys are. Shrewsbury could be a bluprint if we do it now.
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i welcome this move, more and more people are going onto rail now and once its higher speed you will see more people even from shrewsbury able to commute to birmingham, even london in no time at all
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i welcome a more enlightened approach to this, much more cost effective and more environmentally benign, that road is not a priority because congestion in shrewsbury is just not that bad, relative to say london m25 or the edgbaston road in birmingham or the motorway around stoke and birmingham, seriously do me a favour the most i ever waited in a queue in shrewsbury is about 5 minutes, its still a small enough town to walk most places too
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The funniest thing about the parkway station is… people have to drive there (it’s in the middle of the countryside by the A5) to use it! Sort of defeats the point…
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Now they want to waste even more money. How much have they wasted already? None of these so called experts obviously do not live at Harlescott or they would be aware of the major traffic congestion we have to put up with daily. More and more businesses coming to Battlefield Enterprise Park without the road facilities. A better idea would be to link the railway with Harlescott.
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Thanks Council – seems yet again you are a million miles away from what is really needed and it has cost us over £6m and years of wasted time to arrive at this pointless decision.
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the road would have devasted a SSSI – that should never be allowed
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Nobody will use it because the people of Shrewsbury are too up themselves to use public transport..Theres less risk of having to be pleasant to other people when your locked in your own car.
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Those who claim that rail use is in decline, are factually incorrect, in fact rail journeys are on the rise and have doubled in the past 15 years.
At last the council are looking to the future. Road demand will decline in the future due to petrol prices rising in real terms due to increased global demand from limited reserves of crude, despite the hype electric cars wont solve the problem (you still need to generate the electricity).
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i think its a much better idea than that expensive by pass, for a fraction of the price you just get people to walk, cycle, train or lift share
every car i ever see sat in traffic on smithfield road has one person but 5 seats
do the maths folks!
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finally they have woken up to public opinion! we need less cars and less roads in this county not more, lets keep shropshire special and keep it rural we dont want shrewsbury turning into telford now do we
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i welcome this news because shrewsbury has grown too fast and too much in recent years, this keeps a check on development ensuring that it can only take place peice meal and at a sustainable rate, the bypass would lead to vast swathes of development on the west of shrewsbury almost over night you would see thousands of extra homes go in and this is not sustainable socially
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and pray how is a park and ride going to assist my journey from knockin to whitchurch in my 42ton volvo.
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great news for people and the planet
2 wheels good, 4 wheels bad,
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one wheel better!
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doesnt a train have like hundreds of wheels though?
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what about 3 wheeled robin reliants?
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Unlike the unfundable relief road (which I do in fact support), the Parkway station actually stands a chance of securing funding. Why? Because it provides modern parking facilities that simply cannot be provided in the town centre for two uses: transfer to eastbound rail and a more convenient Park & Ride from the east.
Perhaps though it can open up further development in the form of a sustainable urban village surrounding the site, linked not only by rail and bus to Shrewsbury but by cycle path alongside the railway?
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sounds like a good vision
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i think this is a sensible holding strategy with petrol prices going up, traffic, congestion and car use going down, and train use going through the roof! it makes sense to wait and see because in 15 years time you might need that by pass but you dont today, in 15 years time shrewsbury will have a population of about 100,000 people as compared to 70,000 today, that means more cars so it might change things, however with technology who knows, we might all be on hover boards by then!! :)
Give rail a chance, its popular, fast, clean, green and really good for a towns economy; if it doesnt work we can build the road as well, once the national debt is repaid im sure the government will help build roads again if the business case can be made to stack up and the congestion gets really bad (at the moment its not that bad compared to real london style congestion) if it does you’ve saved £100m its what they call a “no regrets” policy
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personally i would prefer the by pass but this is still a good thing because it will expand the development boundary of the town, let more people in and out of town and its pro-business.
Ultimately more jobs and more people coming to live and work in shrewsbury growing the town and therefore boosting the economy and modernising shropshire into a 21st century place which is much needed
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good news, i travel to birmingham daily from sutton farm area and this is great news becuase i will save 20 minutes in the morning by commuting from here rather than go into town centre, park, walk across to station etc, sometimes i go to telford for ease of use, this will be on my door step so be brilliant
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As a person who works day in day out in Shrewsbury town centre I can only see absolute mayhem in the months and years to come if the north west relief road does n ot get built. Trade in the town is already effected by the congestion because people simply do not want to be wasting time sitting in a traffic jam trying to get to shops that will soon think otherwise and move to other towns.
The planned rail link will not make a difference because people won’t pay the fares to use it.
Shropshire Council need to wake up and start listening to people before making stupid decisions like this.
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I have spent the last 18 years commuting through Shrewsbury (from Shelton area) to get to Battlefield and Ellesmere road, not wishing to use Huffley Lane and the country roads as a rat run.
I used to follow a large number of cars doing exactly the same route and back in the evening – although no real problems in the morning, the evening could take as much as 45 minutes just from Coton Hill to the Welsh Bridge – I fail to see how this railway and park and ride proposal will solve the problem of through town commuting – so save the (our!) money please that this white elephant will cost.
The reality is cross town commuting could only have been solved by the NWRR – so I guess I will have to look forward to the next 18 years of the same.
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good
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i think thats a sensible comprise, shrewsbury needs to grow and expand onto the green belt obviously but a train station is greener than a bypass at least I guess, so its a middle ground solution
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Why would I want to catch a bus that is always full, can’t sit down, never on time and when I get to the nearest bus stop, have to walk for 30 minutes to get to work. I can do it in 20 minutes by car!!!
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