Highways Agency

• A650 Bingley Traffic Impact Study
• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Data Collected
• 3. Summary of Results
• 4. Local Impacts
• 5. Conclusions

4. Local Impacts

4.1 To complement the information relating to the wider impacts of the opening of the Relief Road contained in Chapters 2 and 3 of this report, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has undertaken traffic surveys on parts of the minor road network in and around Bingley. These additional surveys were all manual classified 8 hour traffic counts undertaken in June 2003 and April 2004. The counts have been expanded to 24 Hour Weekday Flows using factors derived from local traffic observations.

4.2 Two screenlines have been examined. The 'East - West' screenline comprises:

• B6265 Main Street (near Chapel Lane) - MCC 2003 / ATC 2004;
• Wellington Street;
• A650 Bingley Relief Road (west of Ferncliffe Road) - ATC Data;
• Mornington Road;
• Crownest Lane; and
• Warren Lane.

The 'Canal' screenline comprises:

• Swine Lane/Carr Lane - ATC data;
• Micklethwaite Lane;
• Park Road (south west of Charles Street);
• Ferncliffe Road (at Relief Road); and
• Wagon Lane/Dowley Gap Lane.

4.3 Table 4.1 below shows the traffic Estimated 24 Hour Weekday, AM Peak and PM Peak flows across the two screenlines (excluding Bingley Relief Road) before and after the opening of the Relief Road.

4.4 Figures 4.1 and 4.2 on the following pages show how the overall changes to daily traffic flows shown in Table 4.1 are distributed amongst the roads in the local area. The main points to note from Table 4.1 and Figures 4.1 and 4.2 are as follows:

• There has been a significant drop in traffic flows in all time periods across the East - West screenline (excluding the Relief Road), though this is primarily due to the impact of the reduction of traffic on Bingley Main Street described earlier in this report;
• Traffic flows on Warren Lane and Crownest Lane have reduced in all time periods though flows on Mornington Road have increased in all time periods. (It should be noted that CBMDC will be introducing a Safer Routes to School scheme in the Mornington Road area which could reduce the attractiveness of this route as a link to the Relief Road). Traffic flows on Wellington Street are little changed; and
• There has been a slight increase in traffic flows on the Canal Screenline in all time periods except the PM peak hour, with an overall increase of 6% (AWT). Although there have been significant reduction in flows on Swine Lane/Carr Lane, the narrow Micklethwaite Lane and winding Wagon Lane/Dowley Gap Lane, traffic flows on Park Road have changed little and AWT flows on Ferncliffe Road have increased by 96%. It should be noted, however, that there were major construction works at the time of the 2003 surveys which would have suppressed the 'Before' flow on Ferncliffe Road.

4.5 These local surveys suggest that, although there has been some impact on reducing rat running traffic on some roads within and near Bingley, this does not equate to the additional traffic detected on screenline 2 and described in Chapter 3 of this report. Given that the screenlines east and west of Bingley do not show the same level of increase it is considered likely that the apparently large increases in traffic in Bingley itself (Main Street and Relief Road combined) are linked to local routeing decisions. There is a possibility that some drivers may now be counted at more than one location on the screenlines, thus increasing the overall flow across them. There is also the likelihood that, in changing their routes to make use of the new road, local drivers are now crossing the screenline whereas their old journeys did not.

4.6 It is recommended that the local screenline surveys be repeated at the same time as the 'One Year After' surveys proposed in Chapter 4 of this report to determine the longer term impact on local roads.

4.7 CBMDC have also undertaken surveys of local traffic movements in the Nab Wood, Cottingley and Saltaire areas before and after the opening of the Bingley Relief Road. These surveys are currently being analysed and will form the subject of a report to be prepared by CBMDC later this summer.

Figure 4.1 - East West Screenline Estimated 24 Hour Weekday Flows

Figure 4.2 - Canal Screenline Estimated 24 Hour Weekday Flows