A central reservation needs to be built as the £1m project nears its end date
The junction of College Green and Canons Road has been undergoing a £1m upgrade since August(Image: Bristol City Council)
Motorists intending to drive up Park Street have been warned of two weeks of disruption while the central reservation near College Green’s junction with Canon’s Road is rebuilt.
The reconstruction of the central reservation is the latest part of the £1m project to improve the busy junction in central Bristol, which began in August and is forecast to last until the end of the year.
From Monday, December 1 until Friday, December 12, a diversion will be via Anchor Road (A4), Jacob’s Wells Road, Berkeley Place, then onto Triangle West.
Smaller vehicles will still be able to drive up Park Street northbound but will need to access it from St George’s Road. Traffic will still be able to travel down Park Street.
Buses travelling northbound will also have to follow the diversion, and the nearest available bus stop for people looking to travel North will be in The Centre.
“From Monday 1 to Friday 12 December we need to reconstruct the central reservation,” a council spokesperson said.
“This means we need to close a section of road heading northbound from St Augustine’s Parade (just past its junction with Denmark Street) to where it meets College Green.”
“A signposted diversion will be in place.”
Access for pedestrians and cyclists will be maintained while the central reservation is reconstructed.
Work on the Canon’s Road/College Green junction was brought forward separately from a wider £15.5m project to improve the number 2 bus route, including the controversial plan to pedestrianise Park Street, because of concerns that the traffic signals on the junction could fail due to their age.
Bristol City Council approved the plans to install a bus gate and effectively ban cars from Park Street in March in a vote that went along party lines; the Greens voted in favour, Labour abstained, and the single Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors voted against it.
Proponents of the scheme have said it will improve air quality and make traffic in the area disappear due to motorists choosing different transport options rather than simply driving via an alternative route. Opponents of the Park Street project, including some local business owners, have warned it could “kill” the busy shopping area.
However, the future of the plan is far from certain. Although voted in by councillors, they are still waiting for approval from the West of England Combined Authority, which controls the purse strings for the work via the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.
Work on the bus gate project was originally meant to start in October, but it is still unclear when – or even if – WECA will sign off on it. A decision is expected imminently.