Wednesday 2 June 2010

Bridge Valley Road: stolen

Parking on the Downs for a picnic last week was pretty hard. It wasn't just all the roadside parking spaces were taken up, everywhere off the road where you could get a car was full with a family or two, parked up, cooking up a barbecue. No room for more cars

Except what's this round the corner: Bridge Valley Road. Closed to through motor traffic on account of emergency wall repairs.


We understand the need for this, but resent two things. First, pedestrians and cyclists are allowed up the pavement. Second, the road is fenced off, so preventing the area being used for parking.

If some turnaround zone had been provided at the end, you could have parked cars on both sides of this road, so added room for a few hundred more families on the downs.

They could even have used the footpaths that aren't normally accessible on account of the high speed passing traffic to get up to the park.

5 comments:

The Editor said...

I cycled up BVR on Sunday. At the bottom, attached to a lamppost is the closure notice. I can't remember the exact dates, but the notice ran for about three weeks of March. We're now in June. I do wonder whether the road has been really been stolen. Is the extended closure legal?

SteveL said...

It's an emergency closure until the cliff wall is fixed. If something is unsafe then yes, they can close things.

seebag said...

I would like to know exactly how many hours per week the Council are working to resolve this issue, what their estimate is for the effect this closure is having on Bristol's economy, and what their estimate is for extra pollution caused by diverted drivers.

Unknown said...

sadly, we are still waiting for BVR to open. latest word is by end of june 2011. would be nice if it really happens. let's keep apace with this situation. anyone on the council we can bother or query? thanks.

SteveL said...

big problem is the hotwells railway line tunnel underneath, complicates everything. You can walk or cycle up it.