Our response to road safety and accessibility proposals for Vauxhall and Duddeston

Filed under: Consultation

We have submitted this response to a consultation that closes on Friday 1 December. You can submit a reply to the consultation and point to our response.

We enthusiastically welcome the proposed improvements to Vauxhall and Duddeston. The combination of the various interventions, following a Healthy Streets approach to traffic management, have the potential to significantly improve the accessibility and safety of the whole area.

We welcome the use of bus gates to remove through-traffic and the modal filter on Francis Street to prevent traffic re-routing there.

We are pleased to see the five raised continuous crossings in the proposals. We suggest there should be a sixth at the junction of Duddeston Manor Road and Vauxhall Road.

We are happy to see the use of controlled parking zones. We believe they should be rolled out across the city to keep pavements free for those walking and wheeling and to enforce pavement parking more easily.

We would prefer for the 20mph speed limit to be extended to all streets within the scheme boundary to create a consistent limit, which is more likely to result in greater compliance. This includes Great Francis Street which has a number of community and education facilities along it. We would also suggest for entrances to a 20mph zone from main roads to be speed gates with red tarmac.

We would be interested to see post-implementation traffic monitoring with a view to installing a bus gate on Duddeston Mill Road should traffic levels remain high. Alternatively, the 14 bus route could be re-routed from Devon Street to Melvina Road and a modal filter installed there. Either would improve the environment around Duddeston Station, allowing the pedestrian fencing to be removed and potentially increasing usage of it.

In conclusion, we strongly endorse the proposed scheme and have suggested three minor adjustments for the Council’s consideration.

Better Streets for Birmingham

Better Streets for Birmingham is a community group which campaigns for changes to our travel and planning infrastructure to improve the sustainability, efficiency and safety of our streets. We believe that through connecting Birmingham to reduce car dependency, we will make it a more pleasant place to work, live and play.