'Now we can cross road in safety'

City of York Council has carried out a series of measures to help

pedestrians across Cemetery Road, near its junction with Fishergate and Fulford Road.

Fishergate councillor Andy D'Agorne, who pressed for the improvements, said today the measures would make crossing safer for people including children going to and from St George's Roman Catholic Primary School and Fishergate Primary School.

He said: "It's definitely an improvement on the situation we had before."

A build-out from the pavement would improve sightlines for pedestrians, whose views of traffic had sometimes been obscured previously by vehicles parked in Cemetery Road.

People no longer had to stand out in the road to see if traffic was coming along before crossing, Coun D'Agorne said.

The build-out also meant that pedestrians waiting to cross the road would be seen earlier by drivers turning left into Cemetery Road along a link road from Fishergate.

Previously, their view of pedestrians was obscured by a nearby building.

Bollards would prevent motorists cutting the corner and driving on to the

pavement.

Coun D'Agorne said Cemetery Road had been painted red here, to warn drivers they should expect pedestrians to cross the road at that point - even though it was not an official pedestrian crossing with priority for people on foot.

Contractors were also meant to have painted "slow" on the road, and Coun D'Agorne intended to investigate to find out why this had not yet happened.

He also wanted to know why a wider cycle lane had not been painted on Fishergate, as had been promised.

The councillor said the project had been part-funded from the Fishergate ward committee budget.

He said a more major upgrade of the junction between Cemetery Road, Fulford Road and Fishergate, including greater pedestrian crossing facilities, would be looked at as part of a wider study of the Fulford Road corridor.

Updated: 10:36 Thursday, December 08, 2005