Residents, shoppers, workers and businesses are being asked for their views on Bath & North East Somerset Council’s experimental one-way trial on Keynsham High Street.
Last year, the Council launched an experimental one-way trial through the centre of Keynsham.
This was in response to public consultation on the Council’s Placemaking Plan and the Keynsham Transport Strategy, which recognised the public’s desire to reduce traffic on the high street and improve the pedestrian experience.
The purpose of the trial was to evaluate whether improvements to the town centre environment would be beneficial for the economy and health of the town centre by making it a safer and more enjoyable place to spend time.
Whilst the trial has been in place, the Council has been monitoring traffic flows, air quality, parking and footfall and is now seeking the views of people using the High Street to help decide on the best way forward for the future enjoyment of the town.
The interim monitoring results show that traffic impacts are largely as expected; with journey time savings on 6 of the 8 routes tested although there have been increases in flows at the Rock Road/Ashton Way/Charlton Road junctions.
There have been some increases in the use of public car parks, footfall and cycling since the trial was put in place.
The most clear improvement has been in air quality, with reductions of 22-47% with the highest reduction on the High Street itself. At all locations surveyed the levels of Nitrogen Dioxide are now below the national objective level.
Cllr Tim Warren (Conservative, Mendip), Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council, will be visiting the town to talk to people on the high street during the planned consultation.
Cllr Warren said: “The one-way trial has been held in order to see if it is possible to improve the environment of Keynsham High Street, by reducing noise and pollution from traffic.
“Now that the trial has been in place long enough for people to get a feel for the changes, we want to find out what difference this has made to the High Street and what should be the future priorities to make this a safe, sustainable and healthy place.”
In the coming weeks, the Council will be interviewing businesses, running on-street surveys and speaking to stakeholders about the High Street.
An online survey will also be running from today, 18th January 2018. More details including the monitoring report and online survey will be available here.