'Anger over traffic scheme at Shrewsbury railway station' - Your Letters plus a 1964 throwback picture following an epic 250-mile canoe trip
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Traffic changes are mindless
Together with numerous Shropshire residents, I am angered about the mindless reconfiguration of what was a perfectly satisfactory traffic pattern past the Railway Station. Further, the half-hearted current response from the council's task and finish group is completely inadequate.
Setting aside the short futile "cycle lane", and the now dangerous bus stop, a schoolboy could have predicted that, if you reduce the traffic lanes from two to one, the volume of vehicles using this route will be halved, causing lengthy queues. Historically, there were three, including a dedicated bus lane.
Access to the station itself has been compromised by reversing the flow, except for coaches!, and by causing outgoing traffic to merge with the already congested single lane under the railway bridge. I wonder what was perceived to be the problem with the original layout, and whether a comprehensive traffic survey was conducted, with accurate modelling.
Looking back through the planning publications I note that the reduction of traffic lanes was illustrated in an artist's aerial view in February 2024, inviting comments, and perhaps we ought to have resisted this vigorously then? Many, like myself, did not engage and believed, naively, that the planners were working in our best interests.
The questionable rationale behind the whole disruptive scheme seems to be centred around cyclists. In all my transits of this area, over many years, I cannot recall seeing one cyclist.
We expect our elected members to have a degree of expertise, in their field of responsibility, and in the expenditure of public money, whatever the source.
