Are you concerned about road traffic congestion in Hartford at peak times and the potential impact upon air quality for pedestrians?
Labour’s Northwich Transport Strategy in April 2018 identified 58 areas as ‘high priority’. These included increased capacity at Winnington Bridge and the A559 Hartford corridor.
Sadly, despite Labour’s empty words there has been no discernible change to the traffic situation since their Transport Strategy was released 4 years ago. If anything, the situation has deteriorated even further given the number of new housing developments in the area.
We believe the situation could be significantly improved by re-directing traffic through our village centre. Residents will be aware that most mornings traffic queues all the way along School Lane and The Green where it meets queuing traffic on Chester Road which often tails back to or beyond the Mornant Avenue junction. We believe the fact that these queues are forced to merge at the traffic lights by the Red Lion before encountering another set of traffic lights about 200 yards further along Chester Road is the problem. Our own survey has shown that between the hours of 8 and 9 AM a total of 612 vehicles were counted passing the lights from Chester Road. During the same period, a total of 635 vehicles approached the Red Lion traffic lights along The Green having travelled along School Lane. A staggering 536 of these vehicles (or 84%) then turned right onto Chester Road to merge with the already queuing traffic on Chester Road. Small wonder then that traffic comes to a standstill in this area, negatively impacting air quality for us all.
If elected, we would seek to explore the possibility of redirecting traffic to improve flow. In short, we would seek to make the portion of School Lane from the Chester Road traffic Lights to the junction with The Green, two-way traffic. We would suggest that the footpath on the Church Hall side of School Lane be removed to widen the road and allow two-way traffic whilst still allowing for parking for residents and local businesses. The Green would become the route for the minority of vehicles seeking to turn left at the Red Lion traffic lights, easing traffic in our village.