Very welcome news just posted by Plymouth City Council:
Plymouth City Council has won more than £1 million to provide a new bus link road between Derriford Hospital and the University of St Mark and St John (Marjon).
The grant, awarded by the Department for Transport through its Local Pinch Point Fund, was announced by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin earlier today. Up to £190 million is being made available through the fund over the next two years to help councils free up bottlenecks on the highway and unlock development sites to support local businesses and communities.
The Marjon Link Road Scheme will provide a two-way, bus-only road between Marjon and Derriford Hospital, with a segregated cycleway and footpath. It will allow bus services to bypass part of the A386 and the heavily congested Derriford Roundabout, improving bus journey times and reliability as well as providing better access to the campus.
As part of the scheme a dedicated lane will be provided on Derriford Road for traffic turning right into the hospital, which will not only reduce delays for buses serving the hospital but also other traffic wanting to travel straight on at this junction. This should improve journey times for people needing to access the Tamar Science Park and other business sites.
Digital ‘real time’ displays will also be provided in the bus stops on the link road, as well as inside the foyer and waiting areas of the hospital and Marjon.
The new link road will help to ease congestion on the main route into Plymouth from the North and, together with the recently built Runway Road, will provide some of the strategic transport infrastructure needed to support Derriford’s future growth. An additional £450,000 of developer contributions will help to fund the £1.5 million scheme.
Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Transport said: “This funding is great news for people living, working and studying in Derriford, as well as those travelling in and out of Plymouth along this busy route.
“The new link road will help to reduce congestion at Derriford Roundabout and improve the reliability of bus services – which will hopefully encourage operators to extend more of their services to call in at Derriford Hospital and Marjon. It will also provide better and safer facilities for pedestrians and cyclists and form part of the new north to south cycle route between Derriford and the train station and city centre.
“In the longer term, the new link road will deliver the next phase of transport infrastructure needed to support future growth within the Derriford area.”
Construction is due to start in Summer 2014 and the link road is expected to open in Spring 2015.
As much as I am pro bus / public transport, I can't help thinking that the DoT would be better investing the initial £1m (and more of the available money)in re-surfacing some of the truly shocking road surfaces on existing roads in the city - this would improve journeys for everyone including users of public transport, the existing infrastructure needs sorting before building new. Having said that, if we are talking "pinch points" then the major "pinch point" that needs sorting in Plymouth is the A386 from the George Hotel to Woolwell Roundabout - this is crying out to be converted to dual carriageway. This would benefit many more people than the scheme suggested in this article. The last improvement scheme at the George merely succeeded in moving the traffic chaos a few hundred yards along the road!
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly is this 'link road' going to fit in?
ReplyDeleteI would presume Marjon - Derriford means it'll be a widening of one way lane that runs down from the sports centre to Derriford main entrance. Thus meaning a dog leg along Plymbridge Lane to get to Runway Road and the George junction, and also the loss of some land from Marjon's to widen the road?
I am still trying to work out exactly what is planned myself. I know the whole junction Marjon / Derriford is being re-worked which has to be a good thing (but will be chaos while its being done!) I cant see that it will mean too much ground loss from Marjon though.
DeleteHi Graham, this might help make things a little clearer includes maps as well. http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/mlr_application_form.pdf
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon. The first Torpoint trident to be painted in the new livery is back in Torpoint. 32756 is the first and it carries the Devon branding on the side. Not much thought there. Tamar link would have been better or Cornwall. Never the less looks quite smart. Who can be the first to photograph it.
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