Station Road Area Survey Report

8/4/2020

Will Cardiff Council help us make this area safer?

Following discussions with Cardiff Council, our Road Safety Working Group developed ideas aimed at improving road safety in and around Station Road.

During February we consulted with residents living on Station Road, Windsor Crescent, King's Road and King's Avenue. 73 responses were received.

Our report summarises the responses - and includes proposals which seek to reflect residents' views. The report concludes by explaining:

"We will discuss the above with those who would be directly affected by any changes (i.e those living on Station Road, Windsor Crescent, King's Road, King's Avenue and a small number of houses on Heol Isaf). Depending on the outcome of those discussions, we will then consider consulting with the wider community. That consultation would include a public meeting".

That process has been overtaken by events, however, since we faced the Coronavirus outbreak. In the meantime, our report can be seen below (in addition, its main conclusions were published in the Radyr Chain).

At the end of the day, of course, any decisions with regard to this area will be matters for Cardiff Council to pursue. Only Cardiff Council has the legal power, the money and the technical know-how to ensure that we can protect and develop Station Road. All that we can do is to develop a vision for the area - and to ask Cardiff to deliver that vision, for the benefit of our community.

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4 Comments

Stuart Bailey, MSc(Eng), DIC, DipTP, MRTPI, MCIHT,MCILT (Retired)

17/4/2020 11:07:05 am

Re. The Summary Report of Station Road Proposals. As a Radyr resident since 1975 at 7,The Uplands (next to Danybryn Cheshire Home) can I add an objection to the proposal to install a speedtable and Zebra crossing at the junction of Heol Isaf and Station Rd. Having been aware accidents at this junction between pedestrians and cars over the years the signal controlled junction with pedestrian barriers has created the best level of safety for young and old. I walk down to the shops each morning and often a second and third time, and I ALWAYS use the crossing. Now 75 yrs this level of safety is essential as personal balance and hearing are beginning to decline. As a motorist I would object for another reason. I always leave The Uplands via Windsor Rd as the junction at Heol Isaf/Drysgol Rd is blind(from Cardiff) and hence dangerous. The parking at the Primary School deters use of Parc Rd so I use the Heol Isaf/Windsor Rd junction. If it wasn't for the Pelican Crossing lights and the yellow hatching the traffic queuing up Windsor Rd would be considerable at times (esp around 9.00 am in school terms.) A zebra crossing would make this movement for traffic far more difficult.
The use of zebra crossings is becoming problematic with children and teenagers using mobile phones when walking straight out on to the crossing. without looking, esp at school times.

The Corovid19 lockdown has reminded us of the loss of amenity of our properties over the 45 years we have lived here. The level of traffic growth in recent years has ruined the village with noise and pollution. Might I suggest that any decision on the Heol Isaf/Station Rd junction should only be considered within an area traffic study? Proposals might considers a series of signalised intersections on B.4262 between Ynys Bridge and Llantrisant Rd so as to 'platoon-up' traffic (cf. Manor Way) which will allow local traffic better accessibility and allow the total flow through to be better controlled.

Stuart Bailey

Huw Jones

22/4/2020 10:53:18 am

Thank you for these comments, Mr Bailey

Your concerns reflect those raised by many others during our consultation exercise. In our Survey Report we discuss this crossing as follows:

"...the same group of residents expressed concern about the proposed alteration of the Pelican crossing at the Heol Isaf / Station Road junction into a tabled zebra crossing (ie with no push-button controlled traffic light).

They would prefer the Pelican crossing to remain, but have no objection to the crossing being tabled. They were particularly concerned about this, given the number of children and young people they see using the crossing, as well as elderly people using it on their way to church or the health centre.

Cardiff Council has explained that the rationale for a zebra crossing is that, with tabling - and with a 20mph speed limit - the crossing should be safe enough just as an ordinary zebra crossing. This would enable pedestrians to approach the crossing, wait for approaching cars to stop - and then cross. At present, pedestrians have to wait for the light to change. Cardiff's view is that a zebra crossing would give more priority to pedestrians (who could 'turn up and cross', rather than 'turn up, wait - and then cross'). However, given residents' concerns, we will discuss this further with Cardiff Council."

The possibility of changing this to a zebra crossing was raised by Cardiff Council - and this idea was therefore aired in our consultation paper. As you can see from our Survey Report, given the degree of concern this has raised amongst residents, this is an issue that we intend to discuss with Cardiff Council (to draw their attention to those concerns).

In the meantime, I am very grateful to you for your comments - and we will refer to the points you have raised in our discussions with Cardiff Council.

At the end of the day (as we make clear in our Survey Report) any decisions with regard to this area will be matters for Cardiff Council to pursue.

Only Cardiff Council has the legal power, the money and the technical know-how to ensure that we can protect and develop Station Road.

Our role is to develop a vision for the area - and to work in partnership with Cardiff to deliver that vision, for the benefit of our community.

Whether anything is done - and / or what is done, is ultimately a decision for Cardiff Council - which would need to undertake a statutory public consultation before any work is undertaken.

I hope this response is of some assistance!

Best wishes

Huw Jones

23/4/2020 10:37:21 pm

We also received this letter in response to our survey:

"Re: Heol Isaf Junction at Station Road and Windsor Road.

I wish to register my objection to the suggestion of removing the traffic signal controlled Pelican pedestrian crossing in Heol Isaf at its junction with Station Road and replacing it with an uncontrolled Zebra crossing.

I am a retired highway engineer with many years of highway safety experience. I used to work in this capacity as principal road safety advisor for one of the South Wales highway authority councils. I am a Chartered Civil Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation. I used to chair the South Wales Association of Municipal Engineers. I am objecting to this suggestion because in my professional opinion it will lead to a considerable reduction in the safety of pedestrians crossing Heol Isaf at this location.

I am a regular user of both Heol Isaf and Station Road. The present arrangements serve several purposes as well as protecting pedestrians: they stop all traffic on Heol Isaf when the lights are red which allows some level of priority for traffic wishing to turn right out of Windsor Road to edge forward in safety into the Heol Isaf traffic; a manoeuvre that is otherwise almost impossible during the morning peak period. The signals also ensure that any traffic turning left out of Station Road into Heol Isaf becomes immediately aware of the presence of the pedestrian crossing. This is because whilst making this manoeuvre as a driver one's greatest concern is that of safely entering into the flow of passing traffic on Heol Isaf. The possibility that pedestrians may be about to step out into the road just around the corner is of a lower level of attention at such times. Both of these current advantages to pedestrian safety will be lost if the signals are removed.

The situation after dark should also be considered. The recently installed LED road lighting does not provide sufficient illumination for pedestrians to be seen by drivers using Heol Isaf at these times unless the pedestrians happen to be wearing very brightly covered clothing. Given that pedestrians have a right of way at a Zebra crossing once they have stepped into the road, this lack of visibility of them by drivers is inherently dangerous.

Therefore it is very apparent to me that there would be a significant reduction in current road safety standards if the traffic signals are removed from this junction.

On the other suggestion of tabling, the effect the provision of a table has on drivers is determined by the gradient of the ramps at the start and end of the table; the steeper these are the more likely it is that traffic will slow down significantly to avoid damage to their vehicles. However, there are regulations which limit the steepness of these ramps and if a 20 mph speed limit is also introduced then traffic should already be moving at a speed which removes any necessity to actually slow down at the table. Consequently there would be no point in providing a table if a 20 mph limit is imposed. This situation also applies in the present circumstances in that no point would be served by having a table if the traffic signals remain as it would simply
annoy all drivers while serving no other purpose.

In conclusion I consider the suggested removal of the traffic signals and substitution of a Zebra crossing and possibly also a raised table to be unnecessary as it would result in a significant reduction in pedestrian safety and be a waste of public finance.

Stewart Burgess
MBA BSc CEng FICE FCIHT"

23/4/2020 10:38:07 pm

And here is our response to Mr Burgess:

Dear Mr Burgess

Thank you for your comments about our Station Road area survey.

Your concerns reflect those raised by many others during our consultation exercise. In our Survey Report we discuss this crossing as follows:

"...the same group of residents expressed concern about the proposed alteration of the Pelican crossing at the Heol Isaf / Station Road junction into a tabled zebra crossing (ie with no push-button controlled traffic light).

They would prefer the Pelican crossing to remain, but have no objection to the crossing being tabled. They were particularly concerned about this, given the number of children and young people they see using the crossing, as well as elderly people using it on their way to church or the health centre.

Cardiff Council has explained that the rationale for a zebra crossing is that, with tabling - and with a 20mph speed limit - the crossing should be safe enough just as an ordinary zebra crossing. This would enable pedestrians to approach the crossing, wait for approaching cars to stop - and then cross. At present, pedestrians have to wait for the light to change. Cardiff's view is that a zebra crossing would give more priority to pedestrians (who could 'turn up and cross', rather than 'turn up, wait - and then cross'). However, given residents' concerns, we will discuss this further with Cardiff Council."

The possibility of changing this to a zebra crossing was raised by Cardiff Council - and this idea was therefore aired in our consultation paper. As you can see from our Survey Report, given the degree of concern this has raised amongst residents, this is an issue that we intend to discuss with Cardiff Council (to draw their attention to those concerns).

In the meantime, I am very grateful to you for your comments - and we will refer to the points you have raised in our discussions with Cardiff Council, including your points about the possibility of tabling this area.

At the end of the day (as we make clear in our Survey Report) any decisions with regard to this area will be matters for Cardiff Council to pursue.

Only Cardiff Council has the legal power, the money and the technical know-how to ensure that we can protect and develop Station Road.

Our role is to develop a vision for the area - and to work in partnership with Cardiff to deliver that vision, for the benefit of our community.

Whether anything is done - and / or what is done, is ultimately a decision for Cardiff Council - which would need to undertake a statutory public consultation before any work is undertaken.

I hope this response is of some assistance!

Best wishes

Huw Jones
Chair

Station Road Area Survey Report

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