St George residents demand redesign of ‘notoriously dangerous’ crossing

The people of St George are insisting that a road crossing in their neighbourhood should be redesigned so it is safer for all.

The crossing on Church Road on the junction with Blackswarth Road and Chalks Road has been called “notoriously dangerous” by residents.

This particular pedestrian crossing in the area received the largest number of comments as part of a recent Liveable Neighbourhoods consultation, within the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhoods project.

There are concerns that redesigning the junction may not be possible as St George active travel group members said councillors have suggested that the junction may not be included as part of the £12m pilot project. But group members are unsure why this is.

The crossing on Church Road has been called “notoriously dangerous” – photo: St George active travel group

The group is pushing for the redesign of the crossing, which is directly outside the main entrance to St George’s Park.

Along with people using the crossing to access the park and shops along Church Road, the crossing also sees a lot of school traffic with a number of primary schools located nearby, including Redfield Educate Together, Summerhill Infants, Summerhill Academy, and St Patrick’s Catholic Primary.

In spring 2022, the Liveable Neighbourhoods project team measured a daily average of 20,000 passing vehicles and almost 5,000 walking and cycling journeys in the area. This showed that the crossing is the busiest location for both motorised traffic and pedestrian traffic in the area.

Max, who lives on Whitehall Road, said: “I live with my family and often need to cross this junction.

“The crossings in all directions feel really unsafe especially when walking with young children. You are often left stranded on the island when crossing Chalks Road with cars passing close by and often dangerously to avoid oncoming traffic.”

The junction consists of ‘island refuges’ which leave people in between two lanes of traffic when waiting to cross at the lights.

On average it takes about four minutes to walk from the park entrance to the opposite corner of the junction. The YouTube video below highlights what it is like for pedestrians with young children using the junction.

“There’s no way this junction could be described as meeting the council’s endeavour to prioritise walking and cycling” explains Jim McEwen, local resident and member of the St George active travel group.

He continued: “The purpose of the Liveable Neighbourhoods project is to make communities quieter, safer, healthier and improve air quality for everyone.

“The junction at Church Road and Blackswarth Road currently fails on all of these criteria. One of the side effects of the showcase bus route down Church Road is that it has prioritised traffic flow at the expense of local pedestrian movement, so we have very short traffic light timings for pedestrian crossings and staggered crossings that leave people stuck on islands between lanes of traffic.

“Given the huge local concern and obvious safety issues, I can’t see how this junction could not be
prioritised for such a project. There is a potential pot of £12m here, surely some of this money could be
targeted to make this junction safer and less stressful for everyone.”

Photos: St George active travel group

Read next:

• East Bristol enters second phase of Liveable Neighbourhood trial
• ‘Liveable neighbourhoods will improve the lives of Bristol’s children’ 
• ‘Traffic filters will create more liveable neighbourhoods’ 

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