06/01/04 - £1.5 Million City Centre Improvements Start : Cumbria County Council

Work begins on Monday January 12 on two Cumbria County Council schemes in Carlisle city centre which will bring £1.5 million improvements for pedestrians, bus and rail users and cyclists. The city centre bus/rail interchange scheme and the Botchergate environmental enhancement works will include work to the road carriageways and to footways. They are being run in tandem to reduce the time taken overall and to keep inevitable disruption to a minimum. Working hours will be extended to reduce the period of the works.

County Councillor John Collier, Chair of the County Council’s Carlisle Local Committee, says:

“These schemes, by making a large number of small to medium-size improvements, will add up to a large improvement for bus and rail passengers and for cyclists. As in any works of this nature, it will lead to some short-term disruption and delay, which cannot be avoided. Efforts are being made to carry out the works in as short a time as possible and every effort will be made to provide information to the public - particularly through the media and the county council’s Highways Hotline - about where the work is concentrated at any one time.“

The bus/rail interchange is a £1.2 million scheme to tie in the use of bus and rail services as closely as possible for the benefit of passengers, increasing comfort, information and accessibility. It includes concentrating bus stops in English Street, where a “sawtooth” pattern of bus pull-ins will be provided. New high-quality bus shelters will be provided in English Street and at other stops in the city centre.

Footways will be resurfaced and tidied up, re-using old stone where possible, as in The Crescent. At bus stops footways will be made higher to match low-platform buses, making it easier for passengers to embark and alight.

The Crescent is to be altered to two-way traffic. It will take north and eastbound traffic from Botchergate through Lowther Street. This will reduce congestion in English Street, making it easier for buses to pull out into traffic from the increased number of stops there.

The £290,000 Botchergate environmental improvement scheme will enhance the carriageway and footway from the area of Tait Street and Crown Street to the junction of Botchergate with English Street. The carriageway will be resurfaced and high quality bus stops and taxi stops provided for the benefit of rail and bus passengers and others.

Both schemes include improved or new cycle lanes and street lighting together with improved traffic signals with pedestrian facilities.

The programme is phased so that works will generally take place in various areas in the following order:

Work in Botchergate will be concentrated in the middle of the programme. However, some adjustments are likely to ensure that works can be carried out efficiently with a view to minimising delays to the travelling public.

Working sites will be barricaded off for the safety of pedestrians and motorists. Temporary traffic lights will also be used. Barriers and lights will be moved to different locations as work progresses. Traffic management crews will be on hand much of the time to help reduce any congestion caused by the works.

Signs directing passengers to temporary bus stops will be in place. The bus/rail interchange scheme includes new signing which will lead passengers to the new improved permanent bus stops.

For motorists, advance signs warning of works in the city centre have been placed on arterial routes into the city. These notices carry the Highways Hotline number, 0845 6096609. The Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week and members of the public can ring the number for information about exactly where work will be going on in the city centre.