BOROUGH OF POOLE

TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP –THURSDAY 8 JANUARY 2009

REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

PETITION FOR the installation of a pedestrian crossing oN canford heath ROAD

1.Purpose and Policy Context

1.1To consider a petition to install a pedestrian crossing facility on Canford Heath Road.

1.2The Council’s Transportation Strategy aims to achieve a reduction in injury accidents on our roads.

  1. Recommendation

It is recommended that :

2.1the concerns of petitioners are noted;

2.2the petitioners are advised that a Toucan Crossing facility is currently on a waiting list to be installed in a future year’s Capital Programme subject to funding being available as outlined at paragraphs 4.3 - 4.6.

3.Information

3.1A petition has been received which has been signed by 118 residents from across Canford Heath.

3.2The petition states that “We the undersigned call on Poole Council to install a pedestrian crossing on Canford Heath Road to make it safer for local people to cross this busy road”. The request is for a crossing to the east of the Adastral Road roundabout. This crossing was previously requested by the Area Committee on 1st December 2004, although there are other requests dating back over at least the last 12 years including a petition to the Traffic Sub Committee held on 21 January 1997.

3.3The B3074 Canford Heath Road is just over 2.5 kilometres in length and runs in an east-west direction between the Mannings Heath and Darbys Corner roundabouts. It is currently subject to a 40mph speed limit although this limit will be reviewed as part of the ongoing speed limit review of all Classified Roads in the Borough. A speed survey carried out recently indicates that mean vehicle speeds in a westbound direction (towards the Adastral Road roundabout) are 34 mph and 85th %ile speeds are 38mph. Eastbound figures are very similar.

3.4Traffic flows are around 23,000 vehicles per day on this section of Canford Heath Road. It is a classified district distributor road, approx. 7.5m wide, with continuous waiting restrictions on this stretch.

3.5The road traffic collisions records for the 5-year period up to the end of September 2008 indicate that there have been 1 serious and 9 slight injury accidents resulting in 10 casualties within 50 metres of the Canford Heath Road/Adastral Road roundabout. Seven of the casualties were vehicle drivers, two were motorbike riders and one was a cyclist, who was seriously injured. There were no recorded pedestrian injuries during this 5-year period and there have only been two since the current accident recording system began in January 1987. One of these involved serious injuries to a 27-year old male pedestrian who had been drinking and the other was a fatal collision involving a 67-year old female pedestrian.

4.0Background

4.1The requested crossing point is 100 metres east of the Adastral Road roundabout and is 80 metres or so from a shared existing pedestrian/cycle subway facility. It lies on a pedestrian desire line between the Canford Heath Neighbourhood Centre and the residential estate off Sherborn Crescent.

4.2Local residents have long been concerned about the Pedestrian Subway and have previously expressed the view that:

  • The subway often floods when it rains;
  • The cyclepath takes up too much room;
  • The ramp down to the subway is too steep;
  • It can be slippery when icy;
  • The elderly are afraid to use the subway.

4.3Poole’s Pedestrian Crossing Request priority assessment process takes into account factors such as the volume of traffic, the number of pedestrians crossing, the difficulty in crossing the road and whether there is an alternative crossing point nearby. The locations are prioritised on this basis and then funded either through the Capital Programme or through Developer Contributions.

4.4Two developer-funded facilities, a Toucan (Cycle) facility on Canford Heath Road and a refuge on Culliford Crescent, had been secured as part of a Planning Application for the redevelopment of the Canford Heath Neighbourhood Centre. The application was, however, refused at the Planning Committee of 19 July 2007 and there appears to be no prospect of a new application being submitted in the foreseeable future.

4.5At present the Canford Heath Road crossing facility is ranked ninth on the Pedestrian Crossing Assessment list. Of the sites with a higher ranking, four are currently on hold pending other works, two will be funded during the current financial year and one is being paid for through developer funding. This leaves three sites including Canford Heath Road awaiting funding.

4.6The Capital Programme for 2009/10 is still being finalised and will be presented to a future meeting of this Group. It is estimated that the Canford Heath Road works will cost approx. £70,000, and would be funded through the Cycling and Walking Category of the Capital Programme. However, as this budget is typically only £40,000 per annum and there are currently locations with a higher assessment, it is likely that the request for this scheme will have to wait for a future years’ programme for implementation.

Julian McLaughlin

Head of Transportation Services

Appendix A – Canford Heath Road/Adastral Road roundabout (showing accident locations)

Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact

Martin Baker(01202) 262073

Background Papers - none

4 December 2008
TAG080109T3B

1