Next week Plymouth City Council starts work on a three month scheme to widen pedestrian crossings on Royal Parade. Quite why it will take three months I am not sure - it does seem to be a long time.
Plymouth doers not seem to know quite what to do with Royal Parade at the moment. There used to be a large underpass in the middle of Royal Parade which was filled in a few years ago. This was part of a series of improvements which was also supposed to help keep the buses moving - although a subsequent report stated that the council had made things worse. Certainly bus stop congesstion seems more of an issue than it did before.
The crossing islands at the top of Union Street, near the casino, and at either end of Royal Parade will be widened to double their current size, and the road, therefore, narrowed. Pavemenst will also be raised at some of the bus stops to help with low floor buses. New crossing equipment is also promised which should make life easier and safer for pedestrians. The council do say that this will all help improve the traffic flow. From the comments I have seen many people do not believe this will be the case!
A nice concise page on the early history of Royal Parade can be found here on the Plymouth data web site (well worth a look anytime!)
Why can't they leave it alone?
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