Features / Transport
‘If you’re thinking of driving into Bristol by car, don’t bother’
Walking through the Horsefair on a recent afternoon, Ed Plowden often had to pause what he was saying to allow for the noisy interruption of sirens as he tried to get his point across about the benefits of ambitious pedestrianisation plans.
In a few years’ time, where the chair of the transport committee at City Hall was standing could only allow buses and loading vehicles through if the plans for the area around Broadmead get the go-ahead.
“If you’re thinking of driving into Bristol by car, don’t bother,” said the senior Green Party councillor, who was accompanied on his walk by the city council’s transport delivery manager, Helen Wigginton.
is needed now More than ever
If this area does become pedestrianised, Plowden said it will become “kind of a huge cul-de-sac”.
“It’s a huge concept,” he added. “We want to make sure people have a place to turn around, so that they aren’t caught out.”
A number of developments also in the planning stages will see are the transformation of the Galleries and the former Debenhams that will see thousands more people living in the city centre.
On the walk from Castle Park to Penn Street, Plowden wanted to focus that the plans will provide better linkage for bus travel across the city, better routes for cyclists that mean they don’t have to share with traffic and improved mobility for pedestrians.
A key change Wigginton was keen to emphasise is that most buses will no longer use Nelson Street, being re-routed along Fairfax Street (under the site of the current Galleries) and then back out, allowing for people to still be dropped off fairly close to Cabot Circus.
Fairfax Street heads beneath the current Galleries shopping centre, with the River Frome flowing beneath the road
Plowden added: “Something that often we hear is that we are focussed on the city centre, and we don’t understand the suburbs. But actually, what people don’t always realise is that often the city centre jams up the buses.
“Your bus is often delayed here and not round the corner from you. So, this is actually going to be of benefit and hopefully make it more viable to get those cross-city routes running well, and more reliable.
“What we’ve got is when the bus has a layover, the sheer number of buses is really difficult, the most valuable real estate is in the centre town, so having a load of buses just waiting, not really doing anything is not best if we can avoid it.
“It’s better to have them somewhere else.”
Nelson Street would no longer have vehicles coming down it under the bold proposals
Plowden tentatively brought up concerns over the removal of disabled parking down the Horsefair, but Wigginton assured him that the removal will see the immediate like-for-like disable parking spots, taxi spaces and loading bays will be in place down Fairfax Street as part of the Galleries development.
Wigginton said that the plans, which will dramatically change how we all get around the city centre are effectively about “passing over spaces from cars to people”.
A consultation on the plans ends at the end of September. For more information and to take part, visit www.ask.bristol.gov.uk/bristol-city-centre-transport-changes-consultation-2024
All photos: Hannah Massoudi
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