| Sustainable
Transport Enabling Measures (STEM), Belfast |
||||||||||||||
|
Belfast is currently undertaking a long-term scheme to redirect general traffic flows out of Belfast city centre, in order to permit a greater role for buses, rapid transit, pedestrians and cycling. The work is being carried out in six phases, of which this scheme is the second (Phase 1 was completed in 2011 - see links above):
Phase 2 involves taking road space away from general traffic and using it to provide new bus and cycle lanes. In some cases, the capacity of the road for general traffic is being reduced from four to two lanes. To the west of the city centre a one-way system is being introduced to take traffic off Great Victoria Street to enable greater bus priority. The proposals are too detailed to describe in text, but a summary is as follows:
Much more precise proposals can be seen on the
map released by the DRD in September 2010. See
page 2 of this PDF file. The entire process
is due to be carried out from late 2011 to mid
2013. The map below is a DRD map and shows the proposed
one-way system west of the city centre. Eventually
the plan is to take all general traffic off
Donegall Squares North and South, ie from in front
of and behind City Hall. Updates 1 May 2012:
The DRD posted an update
on their web site about five weeks ago,
including images, which I have only just found. It
indicates that work began on the junction
modifications of Hope Street/Great Victoria Street
on 30 January 2012, and that work began on the
modifications of the Grosvenor Road/Durham Street
junction a week earlier, on 23 January. Work at
the Durham Street junction is due to take four
months, which would suggest there is still a month
of work to go here. However, the update suggests
that all the associated works will not be
completed until the end of June.
Meanwhile, the new traffic signals at the Sandy
Row/Hope Street junction (the bottom left junction
on the map above) went live on 16 April 2012.
Great Victoria Street remains two way for now, but
this will change next year – I assume that the
next part of the project will be to modify College
Square North and Durham Street (beside Belfast
Institute on the map above) as this will also need
to be completed before the one-way gyratory can be
implemented. Although these changes may seem like
tweaking, they are part of a bigger plan and will
facilitate increased priority for buses, cyclists
and pedestrians in the central part of the city. 7 Jan 2012:
The first of the proposed bus lanes (on Victoria
Street) came into operation on 21 November 2011,
and operates from 7am to 7pm according to this
press release. Meanwhile, work on the scheme
to make Hope Street two way gets underway in two
days (on 9 January) according to this
press release. This will not only involve
converting Hope Street into a two-way road, but
also upgrading the junctions at either end of Hope
Street, and Grosvenor Road/Durham Street junction.
The work will take four months, but the press
release implies that Great Victoria Street will
remain two way at that point, only becoming one
way once the one-way system at College Square is
completed. The same press release implies that all
of the STEM works are due to be completed over the
next 18 months, ie by mid 2013. |
