i'm not sure of the exact date that the works were completed on the canal bridge (by Tescos) but it can't be more than 10 days ago. Since then the traffic island has been damaged twice by buses or cars.

this raises a few issues:
1. safety. the whole point of these works was surely to increase safety for pedestrians crossing at the bridge, presumable by reducing traffic speed thanks to a narrower road. but it would already seem to be clear that safety is being seriously REDUCED as this island is now a major obstacle for vehicles, with a tiny margin of error for larger vehicles. if someone is on this island when a vehicle collides with the kerb stones or signage i dread to think of the consequences.

2. who is responsible for 'designing' the road changes? surely they made some major errors when planning the new island and widths of the road, bearing in mind the bendy buses? one side of the island seems to give the bendy buses a margin of error of about 3 inches! add to this future tescos delivery lorries parking below the bridge and will this not get even worse?

3. cost of repeated repairs. we know that tesco had to contribute to these works, but who is going to pick up the cost of repeated repairs to kerb stones etc.? i would guess the taxpayer. 2 repairs in one week is a bad average to start out with. extrapolate to a year and this could make tesco's financial contribution pale into insignificance. given that a high majority of local residents (~80% in 2 separate polls) were opposed to the tescos scheme why should we pay for road repairs which are the results of this application's approval?

finally, what are the long term plans? is there still to be a proper pedestrian crossing installed at some stage at this location?

it seems that residents and councillors fears about road safety are already being borne out, before the store has even opened! this tesco location is without doubt a road safety hazard and so far the changes made to reduce the risks have had the opposite effect.

click on the attached JPG for photos taken