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The Project Control Framework
On 1st April 2008 we launched the Project Control Framework. The Framework sets out how we, together with the Department for Transport, manage and deliver major improvement projects.
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Executive Summary
Prior to the construction of Bingley Relief Road the single carriageway A650 through Bingley carried around 28,000 vehicles per weekday. This level of traffic lead to significant problems with:
- Congestion/conflict, creating diversion of traffic to other urban and rural roads;
- Safety, this section of route has a high casualty rate; and
- Environment, where the high traffic volumes created problems of severance in the town as well as issues of air quality and noise.
The A650 Bingley Relief Road is a new three mile section of dual carriageway, designed to alleviate these problems.
The A650 Bingley Relief Road opened to traffic on the 22nd December 2003 with an official opening ceremony on the 12th January 2004. The trunk road scheme has improved a single carriageway section, from Crossflatts Roundabout to Cottingley Bar, to a new dual carriageway road.
Figure 0. 1 - Weekday Traffic Flows 'Before' and 'After' Scheme Opening
The three main effects of scheme opening are as follows:
- The new Relief Road was used by about 28,000 vehicles per weekday (vpd), in April & May 2004, and daily traffic flows through the town centre have reduced from 28,500 vpd to 14,400 vpd, a reduction of 48%. Therefore, the scheme has been successful in removing traffic from Bingley's congested Main Street;
- Journey time savings of up to 10 minutes have been achieved in the Bingley area in the morning and evening peak periods, following the opening of the relief road, but are generally between four to five minutes. However, both the peak and inter peak savings are offset to some degree by additional traffic and delay observed on other sections of the A650; and
- The Average Weekday Traffic (AWT) carried by Bingley Main Street and Bingley Relief Road combined is 42,000 vehicles per day (vpd), an increase of 47% since June 2003, indicating that there has been a transfer of traffic into the corridor from other roads in the area.
