Cheshire East Highways recently carried out a traffic assessment as part of the evaluation to consider whether a section of Chorley Hall Lane should be made one-way.
As a result of concerns raised by several residents about the safety of the footpath over Chorley Hall Lane railway bridge, Councillor Craig Browne has been working with Cheshire East Highways to explore options for making it safer for pedestrians and people with pushchairs or wheelchairs.
Various options were considered, including installing traffic lights or making structural alterations to the bridge but these were not feasible due to budget constraints.
Therefore the proposal put forward is for a one-way system between Greenlands Walk and Carlisle Street, heading towards London Road.
This would enable the footpath over the bridge to be widened and 18 new on-street parking spaces to be created at a cost of around £10,000.
Cheshire East Highways carried out the assessment between March 22nd and 29th and they found that traffic movements towards and away from the village are broadly similar, but that 47% of motorists exceeded the speed limit driving away from the village, whereas 17% exceeded the speed limit driving into the village.
The seven-day averages were 1,171 vehicles travelling towards the village and 1,217 travelling away from the village.
Councillor Craig Browne said "The figures show that there is very little difference between the volume of traffic flowing in each direction and therefore the proposal for the one-way flow towards the village does not need to be changed.
"The average speeds do not indicate a problem (with implementing the scheme) and it will now proceed to a formal consultation which will be advertised by Cheshire East Highways over the coming weeks."
Prior to the Highway's assessment local residents were invited to have their say about the proposals.
Just under 100 residents replied to the survey, of which 82% agreed that the footpath across the bridge is dangerous and 61% agreed with a one-way system as a solution to the problem.
People's view over how long the limit should be on the new parking spaces was split, with 'no restrictions' being the most popular at 37%, followed by 'up to four hours' at 33%.
Comments
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I've lived here all my life and folk have always whinged about the path over the bridge. I have mentioned once before (no replies), as to all the people that have been injured on the path(or off it).
You don't by a property because it's nice and then try to alter everything about it to suit you.
There hasn't been a single reported injury accident at the Chorley Hall Lane bridge in the last 18 years. This excludes "damage only" incidents, and slight injury collisions that weren't reported to the police.
There was a fatality at the Ryleys Lane/Chorley Hall Lane junction in 2004, but otherwise only a few slight injury accidents there.
There were 5 serious injury accidents at the Ryleys Lane/Wilmsow Rd/London Rd junction in the same period. Two of these involved pedestrians.
There will potentially be 1,171 more vehicle movements along Ryleys Lane per week. Ryleys Lane has two schools, either on the Lane or just off it, on Eaton Drive. Plus there is the Girls school on Wilmslow Road. Is it wise to add another 1,171 more vehicles along that part of Ryleys Lane that at certain times of the day is extremely busy and dangerous?
Whilst Mrs Chapman is correctly worried about the speed cars travel along Chorley Hall Lane, she should experience the speed they travel along Ryleys Lane. Secondly should Chorley Hall Lane become one way, the "coffee drinking, phone using" drivers are hardly likely to slow down, full in in knowledge nothing is travelling toward them in the opposite direction. Traffic calming measures are surely called for, rather than a one way system.