8:00am Thursday 10th May 2012
By Dan Bean
A NEW roundabout is planned at an accident blackspot between York and Selby, in an attempt to drive down the number of collisions.
County council bosses intend to revamp the junction of the A19 and A63 north of Selby. A recent study by the council showed more than 17,200 vehicles used the A19 on an average weekday, with up to 750 vehicles am hour in the morning rush hour and 901 heading towards Selby at about 4pm.
The study showed the A63 was also well used, with over 7,400 travelling on the road in the same 24-hour period, with peaks of 444 vehicles per hour in the 8am rush.
New plans by NYCC propose building a large, three-lane roundabout in place of the staggered junctions, with two lanes filtering from the A63, and three from the A19 in both directions, in an effort to slow motorists down, and improve road safety.
Just this week, a teenage moped rider had to be taken to hospital after a collision with a car at the junction, and there have been a number of serious accidents at the junction since it was built by the Highways Agency in 1987.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Road safety is one of North Yorkshire Police’s top priorities and we are having a committed effort to policing roads and ensuring motorists abide by the law.
“To compliment this, it is also important that the roads themselves and the engineering of the roads include features such as roundabout to control the flow of traffic, thereby improving safety and minimising the dangers.”
Responsibility for the road was given to NYCC in 2009, but the propsal for the roundabout and other traffic measures were first mooted by the council in 2007. Work is set to start on the scheme towards the end of this summer, and could last up to 16 weeks.
It is not yet known what arrangements would be put in place to allow travel along the affected section of road.
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