Today (15th September 2021) consultation started for a traffic restriction order for changes to several junctions along the A23 and crossings on Manor Royal along with other road. There are also some alterations to bus lanes and bus stops. The response period is open until the 13th October.
The Plans
The Junction of London Road (A23) & County Oak Way is due to get some minor changes being that the left turn lane will allow right turns. This will result in the removal of a left turn only phase that current runs at the same time as a right turn phase from London Road North. The shared footway on the eastern side will have its crossings changed from Puffin to Toucan to allow cyclists to legally use the crossings. Street lighting on the footway will also be moved to make the shared area wider, aswell as cutting into the verge.The Junction of London Road (A23) & Martyr’s Avenue is also going to get some minor changes. This includes reducing the lanes through the junction south from 3 to 2 which will allow for a wider NMU path (no less than 4m). Additional changes will also be carried out which will allow cyclists to connect to and from the shared use path to Martry’s Avenue by a combination of Toucan crossings & a dropped kerb Westbound, and via a cycle signal crossing Eastbound.The Junction of London Road (A23) & Manor Royal is going to have some layout changes. A23 SB -> Manor Royal will get a toucan crossing which will allow NMUs to connect to new crossings at the other entrance/exit of Manor Royal to provide a more direct route South. In addition the road layout is simplified.A short section of Manor Royal is proposed to get a new Toucan crossing which will involve minor changes to the bus lanes. Some of the footways will also become shared use areas along with the crossing of a side road becoming a Toucan crossing.Metcalf Way is also proposed to get a raised table at the Bridleway crossing, along with speed bumps on other sections.
The problem
All of these roads have been outlined in Crawley’s LCWIP, however none of the recommendations have bee followed, and in addition the proposed changes do not general guidance set out to not mix pedestrians & cyclists, as well as treating cyclists as vehicles.
Route “N” follows the A23. At all three junctions it is proposed to have “CYCLOPS junctions”, this has not been followed at all. It is suggest that a segregated two-way cycle track should be on the western side of the A23, instead these plans intend on improving the current shared use path on the Eastern side.
Route “O” follows Manor Royal. It recommends that one-way cycle tracks should be provided on either side of Manor Royal, instead we are going to end up with a shared two-way path on the Southern side.
Route “P” follows the Bridleway that Metcalf Way crosses, here it suggest a parallel crossing is provided along with other improvements to the Bridleway. It is currently not proposed to put a parallel crossing here.
