Latest plans unveiled for St Helens Road / Tadcaster Road crossing improvements

Council officers have unveiled the latest draft of proposals to improve pedestrian crossing facilities at the St Helens Road / Tadcaster Road junction.


 

The scheme was approved by the council’s Executive in June 2017, and is part of the five-year replacement programme to renew traffic signal assets within the city (the TSAR programme)

The changes proposed look to improve pedestrian facilities, bringing them in line with current guidance, while having only minor impacts to vehicle delay. The main changes proposed at this junction are as follows:

  • A new pedestrian crossing on the northern side of the junction (outside the Cross Keys pub)
  • The existing staggered pedestrian island over Tadcaster Road is removed from the southern arm and a straight across pedestrian facility is provided
  • The island in the southern arm has been removed to allow the stop lines to be brought forward to improve driver to pedestrian visibility at the junction
  • Guard rail to be reviewed and if possible rationalised
  • Full refurbishment of the traffic signal equipment and ducting network.  This will include changes to pedestrian crossing equipment to facilitate Puffin style near side red / green man displays
  • Implementation of MOVA (Micro-processor Optimised Vehicle Actuation) control strategy at the junction to reduce delays
  • Associated road marking changes to facilitate the above

Local Lib Dem councillors are inviting residents to let them have any comments on the proposed scheme, so that these can be fed back to officers. Please send any comments to Cllr Stephen Fenton at cllr.sfenton@york.gov.uk

St Helens Road pedestrian crossing beacon to be upgraded

St Helen’s Road among those to be upgraded.

The Council is to upgrade the Belisha Beacons at 14 pedestrian crossing sites in York

New beacon design

A report says,

“There are 43 zebra crossings across the city and outlying villages. A
zebra crossing is required by law to have a black and white striped pole
with a flashing yellow globe on each side of the crossing. If there is an
island in the middle, additional beacons may be provided as considered
appropriate. For years this equipment remained fairly standard, but in
the last decade new products have come onto the market using high
intensity light emitting diodes (LEDs) to enhance the conspicuity of
the globe.
In recent years 9 zebra crossings have been upgraded to high
conspicuity units as part of road safety schemes. Feedback on these
has been very positive. The remaining 34 crossings have equipment of
variable age and condition”.
The new design id promised to eb more visible with diodes lastingt longer than older type.

The work is expected to be completed before the end of January.