A new bus lane, bike lane and upgraded pedestrian crossings are being built along the A4018
12:08, 16 May 2025Updated 12:34, 16 May 2025
Roadworks on the A4018 near Henbury, Bristol, are causing traffic disruption as the council works to install bus lanes(Image: Bristol Live)
Thousands of disgruntled petitioners are demanding an end to the “roadworks madness” as bus lanes are being installed in north Bristol.
The works along the A4018, a key road through the north of the city, involve building a segregated bike path and upgrading pedestrian crossings.
But the roadworks are due to last for two years, forcing traffic into one lane on the busy road and spilling cars out onto nearby residential areas instead.
Conservative Councillor Mark Weston, representing Henbury and Brentry, urged a rethink of the long-running roadworks.
Speaking to the transport policy committee on Thursday, May 15, he said most of the local community opposed the “unnecessary” scheme and buses rarely got held up.
He was told the upgrades were needed as thousands of new homes are under construction nearby.
Cllr Weston, who set up the petition with over 3,000 signatures, said: “There is all kinds of madness afflicting my ward. At the moment it’s causing complete mayhem for local residents, with complete disruption to their lives.
“The road worked, the bus moved around. We have another 15 or 18 months of these relentless roadworks.
Cllr Mark Weston, left, and Cllr Bador Uddin. Both Conservative councillors for the Henbury and Brentry ward at Bristol City Council, pictured on the A4108 main road.
“In total I’ve found two people in favour of it — they’ve lovely by the way — but everyone else is completely against it. If you stuff up a main road, traffic doesn’t evaporate or vanish, it flows down the neighbouring roads.
“And that’s exactly what it’s done, all over the place. Cones have been sited in such a way that we’ve encouraged rat-running onto residential roads.
“This is probably a forlorn hope, but we’re going to go down swinging as a community. We’ve tried everything else on this, and so this is it. If this is the final punch we can throw, we’re going to do it.
“We don’t like it, almost unanimously. This is a ridiculous and expensive proposal, and we would love for it to be stopped.”
Contractors are digging up the A4018 between the Crow Lane roundabout and the top of Brenty hill, as part of a £6-million project. Demand for public transport is expected to increase with the thousands of new homes being built in the Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood.
While only one bus service uses the route at the moment, new services are likely to be launched in future.
The bus lane will only be in force during peak times to stop the Number 1 bus from getting stuck in traffic. The plans began under the former Labour administration, and initially included very unpopular banned turns in Westbury-on-Trym.
After a public consultation, the council dropped this part of the plans.
Roadworks on the A4018 near Henbury, Bristol, are causing traffic disruption as the council works to install bus lanes. They are expected to last two years(Image: Bristol Live)
Green Cllr Emma Edwards said: “We’re always going to have a bit of a paradox unfortunately. People don’t want to give up their cars, and when you ask them why they say the buses are rubbish. The only way we’re going to get better public transport is if we build more bus lanes that we can put public transport in. To do that, we create roadworks, which upset drivers.
“I do have sympathy with those drivers, but sometimes there’s a bigger picture. With the increase in population coming and housing development, we’ve got to think of the bigger picture and longer term.”
Labour Cllr Kaz Self added: “There’s a huge amount of development going on to the north of this junction. Improving public transport is a way to solve congestion. Doing nothing is not an option. There might be a limited number of buses using this route at the moment, but we need to plan for the future.”
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