Proposed Traffic Regulation Order - Strathaven Town Centre (One Way) Order 2022

Traffic survey data provides an overview of the current and anticipated vehicle travel patterns through the town centre should the proposed Traffic Regulation Order be promoted.

The streets within Strathaven are historic in nature, therefore modern design standards are often difficult to achieve. The function of these streets can be described as being urban all-purpose routes which carry an element of strategic and local traffic where there is frontage activity.  The current streets in the town centre are either subject to 20mph or 30mph speed limits and residents and users of businesses and shops have unlimited access. Waiting and loading restrictions are in place and there are off-street parking opportunities serviced by the road network.     

Appendix 1 summarises the morning and evening peak period link flows which were undertaken on 13 September 2023.

Appendix 1 - morning and evening peak period link flows

 

 

From these peak hour counts, it is apparent that the busiest street is the A71 Kirk Road with two-way flows of just under 400 vehicles per hour in the morning and 800 vehicles per hour in the evening. The next busiest route is the A723 which has two-flows of under 500 and 550 vehicles per hour in the morning and evening peaks respectively. These are reflective of the strategic nature of the A71 and A723.

Common Green serves the main elements of the town centre including the car parking areas. As a consequence, flows of approximately 470 and 420 vehicles per hour are experienced in the morning and evening peak periods.

The other routes in the town centre of Wellbrae, Waterside Street and Bridge Street have lower flows, but demonstrate their importance in relation to traffic movement. Wellbrae has approximately 200 vehicles per hour in each peak period, Waterside Street has a maximum of just over 230 and Bridge Street has a maximum of 330 vehicles per hour in the afternoon peak period (these are higher than the morning period).

From this data, comparisons with link and junction capacities have concluded that the network is not suffering from any significant capacity issues at this time or would likely be adversely affected by the change in traffic movements associated with the proposed alterations to the traffic management of the town centre.

Any traffic displaced as a consequence of the proposals which use one route, for example, the westbound Bridge Street traffic of circa 55 vehicles onto Wellbrae would have minimal effect on link or junction capacity. Likewise, any traffic turning right from Waterside Street towards Common Green/Wellbrae using an alternative route would not have a significant impact on those streets.

As referred to in the Hearing Statement, various concerns have been raised by the local community with regard to traffic conflict at the “pinch point” on Bridge Street between its junctions with Waterside Street and Castle Street. An image of this “pinch point can be found in Appendix 2.

Appendix 2 - Traffic conflict at the "pinch point"

 

In conclusion, we are satisfied that the impact of the proposed traffic regulation order will not have any significant adverse impact on the road network in relation to capacity or delay.  It is therefore considered that the introduction of the proposed TRO would not result in increased delays or congestion within Strathaven Town Centre.