Bridgewater Place/Neville St/Victoria Road and the wind

[tyke bhoy]

For I believe the 2nd time since the tragic death of a pedestrian due to the overturned lorry caused by high winds, Victoria Bridge has been closed to high sided vehicles for much of the last 48 hours. However the closure needs a rethink particulalry for traffic leaving the city centre!First of all I would like to censure firstly LCC, secondly Metro and thirdly any media sources that followed the former two's communiques. The former two issued statements saying Bridgewater Place was closed to high sided vehicles. I should darn well hope it was because unless there is a very nominal stretch of road Bridgewater Place is the building. What you really meant was Victoria Road/Neville Street was closed to high sided vehicles (the jury is out on exactly where onr becomes t'other).Secondly the new matrix sign just past Bewley's may have proved its worth as it did point out the diversion via Great Wilson Street, Meadow Lane, Leeds Brdidge and back on route via the loop road starting with Swinegate. I say may because traffic in the inside lane most likely to see the sign would then have to pretty sharply move out two lanes to follow the diversion.Finally the outbound notifications are diabolical. On Monday the first notification was on Neville Street on the traffic island seperating outbound traffic from inbound traffic about to become Bishopgate Street. Needles to say it was in a position where high sided vehicles would already be committed to Neville Street and unable to redirect onto Bishopgate Street. Tonight the warning sign had been moved to the Scabby taps side of the island making it slightly easier to divert but still almost impossible. The 2nd notification was on the far side of Sovereign Street instructing high sided vehicles to divert down Sovereign Street. It is likely that the drivers of high sided vehicles would only have time to note and react to this sign if they were stopped at the lights to the junction. Then we have the diversion itself. In the case of the latter sign Sovereign Street, Swinegate, Loop to City Square and then unless the bus box is ignored loop all the way round to Crown Point Bridge or Leeds Bridge. In the cas of the former sign its a bit shorter as you are into City Square sooner but the exit points are still a long way off!!

[raveydavey]

And still we wait for the councils "urgent" report into what can be done about the strong winds being funneled through there - a phenomenon that has been known about for decades, yet which appears to have escaped the planners notice....

[tyke bhoy]

raveydavey wrote: And still we wait for the councils "urgent" report into what can be done about the strong winds being funneled through there - a phenomenon that has been known about for decades, yet which appears to have escaped the planners notice.... I spoke too soon on the matrix sign. It wasn't working at all this morning.

[raveydavey]

tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: And still we wait for the councils "urgent" report into what can be done about the strong winds being funneled through there - a phenomenon that has been known about for decades, yet which appears to have escaped the planners notice.... I spoke too soon on the matrix sign. It wasn't working at all this morning. I think the wind has dropped below critical levels, hence the sign has been switched off. Really that matrix sign should be outside Halfords as you come off the motorways, giving traffic ample time to get into the right lane.

[tyke bhoy]

raveydavey wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: And still we wait for the councils "urgent" report into what can be done about the strong winds being funneled through there - a phenomenon that has been known about for decades, yet which appears to have escaped the planners notice.... I spoke too soon on the matrix sign. It wasn't working at all this morning. I think the wind has dropped below critical levels, hence the sign has been switched off. Really that matrix sign should be outside Halfords as you come off the motorways, giving traffic ample time to get into the right lane. Davey I don't mean the message has been switched off I mean the sign isn't working at all. Before the winds at a bare minimum some of the pixels were lit even if it was just a dot in the top corner but for most of the time it has been operational its been displaying a message about the IRR disruptions at the weekends and "expect delays". For the last 2 mornings there has been "no sign of life" at all.I've said before the positioning of this one isn't ideal because by the time its seen the only options for an alternative are a swift manoeuvre across the lanes to use Great Wilson Street and then either Leeds Bridge or Crown Point Bridge or alternatively a left turn onto Water Lane and then a right turn onto Whitehall Road. I can only think the rationale behind its positioning is to notify two sources of traffic that don't pass the side of Halfords. That being the very limited traffic that passes in front of Halfords on Sweet Street and the traffic that turns right out of Meadow Lane onto Victoria Road having in most cases come along Hunslet Road and Great Wilson Street in front of Tetleys.    

[chameleon]

tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: And still we wait for the councils "urgent" report into what can be done about the strong winds being funneled through there - a phenomenon that has been known about for decades, yet which appears to have escaped the planners notice.... I spoke too soon on the matrix sign. It wasn't working at all this morning. I think the wind has dropped below critical levels, hence the sign has been switched off. Really that matrix sign should be outside Halfords as you come off the motorways, giving traffic ample time to get into the right lane. Davey I don't mean the message has been switched off I mean the sign isn't working at all. Before the winds at a bare minimum some of the pixels were lit even if it was just a dot in the top corner but for most of the time it has been operational its been displaying a message about the IRR disruptions at the weekends and "expect delays". For the last 2 mornings there has been "no sign of life" at all.I've said before the positioning of this one isn't ideal because by the time its seen the only options for an alternative are a swift manoeuvre across the lanes to use Great Wilson Street and then either Leeds Bridge or Crown Point Bridge or alternatively a left turn onto Water Lane and then a right turn onto Whitehall Road. I can only think the rationale behind its positioning is to notify two sources of traffic that don't pass the side of Halfords. That being the very limited traffic that passes in front of Halfords on Sweet Street and the traffic that turns right out of Meadow Lane onto Victoria Road having in most cases come along Hunslet Road and Great Wilson Street in front of Tetleys.     Both the positioning and the size is an issue with most tof these I think. Much more than a few words on the A64 sign presents difficulties absorbing a fuller message even at speeds below the limit, and is neigh on impossible from the outer lane!Good idea presumably done at a set cost - which rather makes their usefulness a little less than cost effective

[raveydavey]

chameleon wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: raveydavey wrote: And still we wait for the councils "urgent" report into what can be done about the strong winds being funneled through there - a phenomenon that has been known about for decades, yet which appears to have escaped the planners notice.... I spoke too soon on the matrix sign. It wasn't working at all this morning. I think the wind has dropped below critical levels, hence the sign has been switched off. Really that matrix sign should be outside Halfords as you come off the motorways, giving traffic ample time to get into the right lane. Davey I don't mean the message has been switched off I mean the sign isn't working at all. Before the winds at a bare minimum some of the pixels were lit even if it was just a dot in the top corner but for most of the time it has been operational its been displaying a message about the IRR disruptions at the weekends and "expect delays". For the last 2 mornings there has been "no sign of life" at all.I've said before the positioning of this one isn't ideal because by the time its seen the only options for an alternative are a swift manoeuvre across the lanes to use Great Wilson Street and then either Leeds Bridge or Crown Point Bridge or alternatively a left turn onto Water Lane and then a right turn onto Whitehall Road. I can only think the rationale behind its positioning is to notify two sources of traffic that don't pass the side of Halfords. That being the very limited traffic that passes in front of Halfords on Sweet Street and the traffic that turns right out of Meadow Lane onto Victoria Road having in most cases come along Hunslet Road and Great Wilson Street in front of Tetleys.     Both the positioning and the size is an issue with most tof these I think. Much more than a few words on the A64 sign presents difficulties absorbing a fuller message even at speeds below the limit, and is neigh on impossible from the outer lane!Good idea presumably done at a set cost - which rather makes their usefulness a little less than cost effective You only have to look at the under-used information signs across the motorway network to see how big these signs really need to be. The one on the A64 is poorly sighted as well as being far too small - it would have been better placed in the central reservation perhaps.