A TRAFFIC lane controversially removed from a York junction is to be brought back – despite transport bosses saying it would make the route less safe.

City of York Council took away the left-hand filter lane at the junction of Water End and Clifton Green in 2009 to make space for a cycle lane, but local residents said it led to their streets becoming choked with traffic as motorists tried to avoid queues.

Coun Dave Merrett, the authority’s cabinet member for city strategy, has now agreed to reinstate the filter lane, and will now ask people to choose between two detailed options.

Cyclists, who will either lose part of their existing lane or see it redesigned so cars have to cut across it, have said neither choice will solve congestion problems in the area.

The cheapest option would cost between £10,000 and £12,000, while the alternative – involving widening the road and possibly removing cobbles – would cost between £30,000 and £35,000. Labour committed themselves to reinstating the traffic lane when they took control of the council earlier this year. The bill for the cycle lane’s original introduction reached £540,000 – £240,000 more than originally expected.

Mike Durkin, Jon Pickles and Simon Parrett, transport officers at the council, warned that all the options for change had “potential safety issues” and were “less safe overall” than the current layout.

But Coun Merrett said: “It is a difficult issue for the city because our traffic system is severely overloaded.

“There needs to be consultation on which option we proceed with and we are not going to satisfy everybody, but we will try to reach the best compromise we can in these circumstances.”

Cycling campaigner Paul Hepworth said: “I’m just sorry short-term thinking has come into this and I’d challenge anybody to go back to this junction in a year and say congestion has improved, because I’m willing to bet it won’t.”

James Baker, who lives in Westminster Road – one of the streets which residents claim have become “rat-runs” for drivers since the traffic lane’s removal – told the meeting at which the decision was made: “The situation is deteriorating, and unless action is taken, our quality of life will be unacceptable.”

Clifton councillor David Scott said residents’ lives had been “blighted” by the traffic lane’s removal and the problems should have been anticipated when the changes made in 2009 were first proposed.

York Press: The Press - Comment

Hard to make sense of it all

THERE has been yet another twist in the seemingly never-ending saga of the Clifton cycle lane.

Two years and £540,000 after the left-hand traffic lane at the Water End/Clifton Green junction was removed to make way for a cycle lane, it is to be restored.

Labour made a commitment to bring it back in their manifesto. The twist is that it will cost more than they thought – up to £35,000, depending on how it is done, instead of the £8,000 to £10,000 Labour said would be needed – and by traffic officers’ own admission, the result will be a road that is less safe than it is now.

It is hard to make sense of that. The reason for restoring the left-hand lane is to reduce the chronic traffic congestion and rat-running the original changes created. But is that a goal worth compromising on safety?

It is to be hoped that at least the road will be no less safe than it was before any changes were made back in 2009.

But an awful lot of money has been spent on this traffic junction since then: the original work went over budget by a whopping £240,000.

In a sense, Labour have been left a poisoned chalice by the previous administration.

The group is on the horns of a dilemma: if it does nothing, motorists will complain. If it restores the left-hand traffic lane, cyclists will be unhappy.

The fear is the ultimate result will be a compromise that will please no-one.

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