A6 Crescent traffic calming

[Nicholas]

Yes, that's right - Salford City Council are to introduce traffic calming measures on the A6 Crescent! For those who don't know it, it is currently a 40mph D2+Bus Lanes road. The eastbound carriageway is partly built on a bridge over a bend in the Irwell, with a step in height between the two carriageways.

Work starts tomorrow (apparently) and will last for the next several months. I would love to know what SCC are planning! For those streetlighting enthusiasts, there will be some fairly old lighting removed.

(Maybe worth a visit if the M62@50 trip is undertaken)

[ScottB5411]

It started a while back! It's from the look of it, all to benefit non-council tax paying students, they ruined Preston City Centre for them aswell.

[Nicholas]

Usually works start after the published date, not before!

[ScottB5411]

They have curtailed the bus lane at Salford Cresent bridge so there is no bus lane through the lights, both ways! They are putting new lights up aswell so no doubt it will be chaos once the new signals come online cos i bet they get set for maximum disruption...... I think they have done away with the bus lanes to provide a footpath for said non-council tax payers.

[Haydn1971]

Traffic calming as in the highway act kind ? You can't install vertical calming on a 40mph speed limit !

There was a time when you needed Sec of State approval for installing on a dual carriageway :-/

[Matthew]

I used to walk that bit of road every day as a student when I was at Salford's Aldelphi campus.

It's an impressive bit of road and good views as well. Will be interesting to see if it does get ruined in any particular way.

Talking about this road, in the RAC ad with a broken down vehicle in the middle lane of a three lane section at night and the vehicle travels up behind it, was that filmed just to the west of this approaching Pendleton?

[wrinkly]

When it was first widened it was plain D3.

[Nicholas]

I used to walk that bit of road every day as a student when I was at Salford's Aldelphi campus.

Me too!

Talking about this road, in the RAC ad with a broken down vehicle in the middle lane of a three lane section at night and the vehicle travels up behind it, was that filmed just to the west of this approaching Pendleton?

Yes, the eastbouond approach to the Frederick Road junction.

[M19]

So will this be another example of designer congestion? Why do local authorities have to come up with pointless schemes like this. This is the sort of non-projects that government cutbacks should be targeting.

[irrelevant]

They've been messing around at the western end of Crescent for a few weeks now. Typically restricting this four lane section to a single running lane, with the junctions laid out with cones. How anybody who doesn't know the layout already would be able to tell what was where is beyond me. It's just a sea of orange and white.

[scragend]

I used to walk that bit of road every day as a student when I was at Salford's Aldelphi campus.

Me too!

And me!

[Chris5156]

It's an unspeakably ugly and barren bit of road that stops suddenly at its eastern end without leaving you anywhere much of interest. If the plan is to take it down to two lanes each way and landscape it a bit more thoughtfully I'd be all for it! As it is, it doesn't make a good first impression of Salford.

[Bryn666]

I would agree - the reduction from D3 to S4 after the Crescent is a massive bottleneck in the morning peaks.

To my mind it would make far more sense to drop the third lane at the A576 (for it is the Intermediate Ring Road - the north's answer to the A205), then maintain two through lanes from there right into Chapel Street.

A direct left turn filter lane onto the A5063 Albion Way needs to be retained though - at the moment there is a bus lane down the left hand side - is this a vital component here? Judging by the fact it's been coned off for weeks, I would say not - so revoke the bus lane, widen the footways (or provide grass verges with planting for aesthetics) and have two through lanes plus auxillary left turn lane from the A576, through Frederick Road, and to the Albion Way offslip.

As I have said elsewhere, you'd never realise that Windsor Crescent and the surrounding was once as desirable as St Ann's Square. It's very barren, very windswept, and very unloved.

A nice grassed verge or central reservation with some planting, removal of the high mast lighting in favour of more conventional columns using white light to highlight pedestrians (lots of students here remember), replace the pensionable signals, get rid of that god awful rusty blue footbridge...

I dare say also it might benefit from a 30mph speed limit (awaits mushroom cloud to eminate from Stockport).

[Nicholas]

A direct left turn filter lane onto the A5063 Albion Way needs to be retained though - at the moment there is a bus lane down the left hand side - is this a vital component here? Judging by the fact it's been coned off for weeks, I would say not - so revoke the bus lane, widen the footways (or provide grass verges with planting for aesthetics) and have two through lanes plus auxillary left turn lane from the A576, through Frederick Road, and to the Albion Way offslip.

Now the schools are back in, it will be necessary. I've been down there at the height of the morning peak and the bus lane is very useful - the bus stop at the Frederick Road is very busy, it is even served by the X61 express service from Preston / Chorley. There are 37 buses per hour serving that stretch of road (more at peak times), so giving them their own lane not only speeds up their journey times, but keeps them out of the main queues too.

[Chris5156]

A nice grassed verge or central reservation with some planting, removal of the high mast lighting in favour of more conventional columns using white light to highlight pedestrians (lots of students here remember), replace the pensionable signals, get rid of that god awful rusty blue footbridge...

It could be a nice road. There's space there to provide a D2 with trees down the central reserve and possibly some raised planters along the river side, which would enclose it a little more and provide a more welcoming route into the city. That way you have a gently curving boulevard, trees and plants to break up the view, a handsome row of Victorian buildings down one side, and all would be well.

[Hugo Nebula]

It's an unspeakably ugly and barren bit of road that stops suddenly at its eastern end without leaving you anywhere much of interest. If the plan is to take it down to two lanes each way and landscape it a bit more thoughtfully I'd be all for it! As it is, it doesn't make a good first impression of Salford.

I would suggest something that is unspeakably ugly and barren gives a very good (as in accurate) first impression of Salford!

[Christhebull]

This is how I would do it:

D3 converted to D2 + cycle tracks

Central reservation widened for trees and planters

30 limit

red brick surfacing at diverges (where hatching would be used), at pedestrian crossings and mouths of side roads

humped crossing at mouths of side roads

widened pavement by river with benches etc

[Nicholas]

This is how I would do it:

D3 converted to D2 + cycle tracks

Central reservation widened for trees and planters

30 limit

red brick surfacing at diverges (where hatching would be used), at pedestrian crossings and mouths of side roads

humped crossing at mouths of side roads

widened pavement by river with benches etc

The problem is that there needs to be a way to cater for a bus lane - this is a very busy road and traffic can queue the full length of Crescent at peak times, and that is with the D2+bus lane format. Like I said, with upwards of 32 buses per hour, there needs to be a way to keep the buses going.

[Nicholas]

I went down there today and it sure looks a mess! I've also discovered what is going on with regards to the layout...

A reduction in general traffic lanes in both directions, from two to one, from Albion Way to Oldfield Road;
The introduction of a 20 mph speed limit along The Crescent reinforced by the use of a combination of driver information signs and traffic calming measures;
Modification of the existing bus and cycle lanes in both directions to accommodate the revised road layout;
The reduction of lanes will allow the widening of footways in parts, the introduction of a central reservation and some footway build outs;
The provision of a wide central reservation in the highway at Salford Museum and Art Gallery and the University of Salford will facilitate pedestrian crossing;
The provision of two pedestrian ‘supercrossings’ to replace the existing single crossing; and
New lighting, tree planting and other street furniture.

[irrelevant]

Oh wonderful... I didn't realise it really was going to be that bad - so all the traffic coming down the A6 & A580 East Lancs Road, heading towards Manchester city centre, or wanting to skirt it on the Manchester and Salford Inner Relief Route, is going to be herded into a single lane? It's a car park at rush hour already. What are they expecting traffic to do? Use Regent Road (A57) instead? That's a nightmare of a road already.

I guess it will look nice though..