Drivers face months of misery on Newcastle roads
MOTORISTS face three months of disruption as a £1 million town centre improvement scheme gets underway.
The work along the A527 Barracks Road, in Newcastle – one of North Staffordshire's major commuter routes – is due to start on Monday next week.
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DISRUPTION: Barracks Road.
It will involve creating a new bus lane and traffic signals, so vehicles can head out of the bus station and turn right onto the southbound carriageway.
This will, in turn, free up Hassell Street to become a pedestrianised area and home to some of the town's market stalls. The wider changes also involve moving a taxi rank.
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People today voiced mixed opinions about the proposals, which are aimed at improving traffic flow and making the town more appealing for visitors.
While roadworks are in full swing, commuters face significant delays and pupils travelling to Hassell Primary, in Barracks Road, will also be affected.
The first phase will see one lane of Barracks Road closed in the northbound direction, between the Hassell Street junction and the roundabout. This stage is due to be completed on July 22.
Then one lane on both the north and southbound carriageways will be shut between July 23 and September 12. This will enable workmen to remove the wall in the middle of the road, so the carriageway can be widened. Once finished, there will still be two lanes for motorists in both directions.
Taxi driver Andrew Davies believes many people will see little benefits and will have to endure the pain of roadworks.
The 54-year-old, from Wolstanton, said: "Closing a lane is going to snarl up the traffic, which will back up along the ring road. It will be organised chaos.
"As taxi drivers, we can't use a different route because we still have to use the taxi rank. It's going to be difficult to get to the rank."
But Carl Evans, president of Newcastle Chamber of Trade and Enterprise, welcomed the changes.
He said: "At the end of the day, it should improve the town centre. Newcastle needs to improve to compete with Hanley. There was inevitably going to be some disruption while the roadworks take place."
Staffordshire County Council is carrying out the road changes and contributing to the overall £1 million cost of the scheme. Newcastle Borough Council is footing £415,000 of the bill.
Councillor Stephen Sweeney, who sits on both the county and borough councils, said: "The road improvements, to give better access from the bus station onto the road, are part of the wider project to make Newcastle a more attractive place.
"They are necessary because Hassell Street will be pedestrianised and buses will have to turn right only onto Barracks Road."
Borough councillor Eddie Boden added: "I would ask drivers, shoppers and residents to bear with us while this work is carried out."
Comments
by TheStaffordshireRipper
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 10:00PM
“Oh well, I never really liked Newcastle anyway. Too many muppets in one crowded area.”
by Goach
Sunday, June 10 2012, 12:40PM
“begorrah I agree with you entirely I also avoid Hanley like the plague and like you I feel that Longton is making an attempt to revive, so much so that I have decided to open a branch of my business in one of the vacant shops in Longton. This I would not have attempted in Newcastle or Hanley. Thats because of over inflated rent and rates created by the areas' over inflated hype, I have shopped in Longton for a long time now, well more so since I moved to the Moorlands area, and have noticed that Longton is now enticing more people back in and there is also a lot more traffic movement. A gamble I know but time will tell.”
by begorrah
Sunday, June 10 2012, 11:47AM
“Over the years I have always preferred to shop in Newcastle, as I have a pathological dislike of Hanley. I am always sad to see the decline of an area I have known and used, but with the opening of Castle Walks I had hoped for a revival in the fortunes of my favoured shopping area, but it seems a little slow in coming, Still, I enjoy a wander around the town, lots of cafes for a brew and a bite to eat. Now we are to get yet another shopping centre in Hanley called City Sentral, filled with shops supposedly attracted in from outside the area (one waits with bated breath...), Newcastle will have to look to its laurels or be yet another town sacrificed for the greater glorification of Hanley. That said, Longton is making a spirited attempt to reawaken from dormancy, so there's hope for Newcastle yet.”
by Clayhanger
Friday, June 08 2012, 10:30PM
“Carl Evans Newcastle Chamber of Trade is deluded if he wants Newcastle to rival Hanley, this misguided approach has failed year on year.
It is obvious that Newcastle should be trying to attract niche shops and encourage its market, it should also have free 1 hour parking.
This obsession with Hanley has led to The Loyal and Ancient Borough declining over the last 50 years”
by Focus386
Friday, June 08 2012, 5:57PM
“Its just going to snarl up Newcaslte even more than normal. What ever the council do and say it will not be of any benefit to the residents of newcastle..As for speaking to the taxi's, thats the best joke I've heard all week. The taxi's already ignore most of not all road signs and putting a new bus lane in will just give the taxi drivers another lane to undertake or overtake the normal flow of traffic.”
by Anon_mow_cop
Friday, June 08 2012, 4:05PM
“Went into 'Castle today, not been there for some time, it looked a right dump, with the same offices and shops closed from the time before.”
by Clem51
Friday, June 08 2012, 3:41PM
“That should make life easier for bus drivers and passengers, but yet another holdup for everyone else. What is wrong with how things are right now. "If it ain't bust, don't fix it!"”
by truepotter
Friday, June 08 2012, 12:00PM
“Councillor Stephen Sweeney -- "The road improvements, to give better access from the bus station onto the road, are part of the wider project to make Newcastle a more attractive place."
Now here's a thought, if yo really want to make Newcastle a 'more attractive place' then do something to get shops back into the town instead of endless gin palace pubs, clubs and betting shops. get some businesses into the arcade leading to the Vue cinema, you know, the place where there used to be a thriving indoor market, the place where there now stands nothing but a hairdressers and a Pizza Hut. Get some market stalls selling decent stuff instead of cheap tat. Maybe go along with the rest of the council to see how the French do markets. Then, when we have people wanting to visit the 'Historic Market', (hysterical market is more apt), do something about the roads when the roads need something doing to them.”