College traffic woe (From York Press)

College traffic woe

11:36am Tuesday 25th September 2012 in Letters By Readers' letters

SINCE the start of the new school term, traffic has queued as far back as St Edward’s Church in Tadcaster Road, and beyond, for about two hours during the morning and evening rush hours.

We are fortunate to live near Knavesmire but unfortunate enough to live en route to York College , therefore we have no choice but to push our way out every morning in order to get to work. Stress levels rise before I have even got there; we work in Acomb and Holgate respectively.

During the school holidays it took ten or 15 minutes to get home; now it takes upwards of 40. It is impossible to turn right out of the lights at the Cross Keys pub after 4pm. If I try to, I find that the traffic is queued across the junction and no provision is made for me to slot in, even though I have right of way.

If we are unfortunate enough to have to join the queue to Askham Bar roundabout in the morning, we are then faced with the situation of trying to access a roundabout that has been flooded with cars from Moor Lane, the drivers of which think it is their right to sit in the yellow hatchings until they can progress, thus preventing anyone else from accessing the roundabout.

The situation is made even worse by the large volume of cars coming from the housing estate that has been built on the former York College of Arts & Technology site.

Surely it is time for City of York Council to put traffic lights on this roundabout and at least in the interim to rethink the yellow hatchings which are wrongly sited and do not protect the exit from Tadcaster Road on to the roundabout. However, the main problem is the huge number of students at the present York College, who are continually pressing the button in order to cross to Tesco. In the 1960s, St Peter’s School was able to install a footbridge so that students could cross the road safely. Why was this option, or an underpass, not considered for the college?

Teresa Turner, Whin Road, Dringhouses , York

• I AM forwarding for favour of publication a letter about another raft of transport initiatives that have just been announced to address congestion and pollution - among which are some extra cycling routes.

My point is that unless the higher priorities of safety and security are dealt with first, we will never make the step change necessary to significantly increase cycling into the city. Tinkering at the edges is futile.

Allan Charlesworth, Old Earswick, York