The pedestrian crossing near Morrisons on Christchurch Way is to be moved to help motorists get out of the supermarket junction.
Staffordshire County Council will be closing the existing crossing point and replacing it with a temporary crossing located before the junction.
It is hoped that this will ease the tailbacks that shoppers have experienced when trying to leave Morrison’s car park and drive on to Christchurch Way.
The trial will last for one month and comes after motorists said they were having problems exiting the supermarket.
A new one-way system was introduced in February and has seen scores of motorists complaining about the impact at the Morrisons junction.
The layout is currently being monitored and if successful it will be made permanent.
Local Staffordshire County Councillor Philip Ezra Jones said: “Although the new traffic system has helped to solve problems in Stafford Street and Lichfield Road it has had a knock-on effect on Christchurch Way, particularly at certain times when traffic is leaving Morrison’s car park.
“By moving the pedestrian crossing along the road, vehicles will be able to leave the car park and join the main carriageway when the lights are on red. If this works, the team will look into making it permanent. I would like to thank everyone for their patience while this pilot project is carried out.”
The team will start the work on Wednesday 20th July and the county council says it will take around a week to complete.
Crews will be on site from 9.30am to 3.30pm. Traffic will be controlled using lane restrictions and signs.
18 comments
dave
Because of this new and improved system, my frozen shopping melts in summer before i manage to exit the car park during rush hour
Steve
What we need is to get the views of our MP for Stone – Not sure how interested he will be. orgsec.stonecons@btconnect.com I believe is the email address – I will send something.
Richard Stevens
Have you seen what they did yesterday? They’ve now put barriers all down the ‘town’ side pavement to below the bus stops to prevent pedestrians crossing below the junction. This is another ‘on the hoof’ reaction to events. I shudder to think where this will end.
The difficulties being placed in front of town centre shoppers are bound to deter some people (the elderly, disabled and others in bad weather) from crossing into town. Town centre shops and businesses are going to suffer.
And when is a pilot scheme not a pilot scheme. Answer – when it is carried out without any form of consultation, when it is carried out in good weather in the summer, when it is carried out during school holidays and when it is carried out just before Morrisons introduce their Pay and display parking scheme (which is bound to change parking patterns in the town)
How much is this fiasco costing us council tax payers?
Dan
Chaos! Coming out of Morrisons there was an altercation at the pedestrian crossing across the access road outside the funeral directors. A pedestrian treated the crossing as a zebra crossing, the driver beeped, cue all sorts of hand gestures and new words learnt!!
At the bus stop where the permanent crossing is, a hoard of people attempting to cross the road including several adults dressed in Woggles! I think they needed help across the road.
I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody gets hurt if this is allowed to continue.
Richard Stevens
Is a ‘pilot’ conducted during school holidays likely to be an accurate assessment of typical traffic conditions?
DRB
And of course, the ‘pilot’ month happens to be just when traffic is less anyway, due to school holidays, so it’s guaranteed to be a success!
Please – just put a set of straightforward traffic lights on the corner of Mill street, like at Asda in Stafford. Simples.
Richard Stevens
Oh dear. Just as I feared. I drove down Christchurch Way yesterday morning, having hit the back of a queue of traffic outside Ovilash, to witness an elederly gentleman trying to cross the road near the old crossing and who had, somehow, managed to get on to the road side of the temporary barriers. He was totally confused and and risking life and limb. Thankfully cars in front of me stopped to allow him across.
And as I suspected hoardes of people are ignoring the tempoarary lights and still crossing the road by the bus shelters. Let’s hope it doesn’t take an injury or worse to put a stop to this daft pilot scheme.
Jon
What’s even more stupid is the pedestrian crossing that they’ve marked out to get across to the Morrisons side. It’s right on the corner so anyone coming down Christchurch way at speed to turn into Morrisons could easily take out some unsuspecting pedestrian who is unsighted to the danger of the oncoming traffic.
Steve
Easiest solution would be to leave the crossing where it is. Take out new system and return it to the way it was before.
Jon
I think the fact that the change in Morrisons parking system is also to blame. Before the flow outbound was regulated by the old man letting people out of the barrier, now people can all leave in a big long line.
Is there scope to widen the access road so that there are 2 lanes leaving morrisions? People could then easily filter out. I would like to see the lights changed at the Lichfield Road junction to also include a left only filter so that we can still enter Lichfield Road when the ongoing traffic is on red (obviously changing to red if someone uses the crossing).
Michael Willis
Some really good points raised here and I can understand people’s concerns about this. I think Jon makes a really good point about the flow of traffic out of Morrisons increasing. Traffic lights at the end of the road from Morrisons, and just above it for the traffic coming down Christchurch Way, might be a solution. What do people think?
Richard Stevens
This is crazy! When Morrisons was built (originally as Safeway) the pedestrian crossing was above the junction – just where this new trial is to take place. It took several years of campaigning to get it moved to its present position. Why was it moved? Because human nature dictates that pedestrians will take the shortest route. So, on leaving Morrison car park by the ramp near the bus stop they were crossing the road at that point to go into town. And they will continue to do so. No one is going to walk to the other side of the junction, involving crossing the mouth of Mill Street, to use a crossing which is well off the beaten track. This pilot will create enormous confusion and the potential for danger.
This is putting the needs of the motorist before the safety of pedestrians.
C Barber
No no no! I cannot believe this is being pushed through that is not a safe solution 🙁
Mr P
The best thing to happen for me was the new road layout and traffic Island at the bottom of the High Street. I now no longer have to queue up to access Lichfield Road amongst traffic passing right through the town. On another note also I have never experienced a problem getting off Morrison’s car park either and I regulary fill up with fuel there too.
The only 2 points that annoy me traffic wise in Stone are people stopping dead in the road to change lanes when thetre is no stop or giveway sign at the top and bottom of the ring road. A competent driver filters in and not stops stationary in the road. Also if people took up the correct road positioning when exiting Morrisons car park i.e. moved over to the far right to get into the right hand lane, then people exiting in the left hand lane could get out more easily. So maybe the traffic problems in Stone are not all down to the Council but poor drivers too!
Steve
As one of the main moaners about the new road layout I think the best solution would be to put it back as it was before! I have seen nothing improved at all. A possible problem with the new crossing means you actually have to cross the road junction where the entrance/exit is from Morrisons to get to the new crossing. Safe?
James
I wonder how much this will cost, instead of just getting on with it!