Station could be transport hub - Worle Parkway

[AJR]

Ref.: thewesternmercury.co.uk

http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/archi ... tation.asp

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Station could be bus rail and coach hub

newsdesk@thewestonmercury.co.uk

A massive expansion of Worle Parkway railway station and moving Weston's motorway junction south are two long term proposals in a major transport shake-up just published.

Plans laid out in the Greater Bristol Transport Study could see the station in Worle transformed into a major public transport hub with rail, coach and bus links to both Weston and Bristol.

A park and ride scheme and an express bus link to Bristol International Airport have also been put forward as part of the proposals for the interchange to be completed byby 2031.

The study has suggested shifting the M5 junction 21 south to separate it from the A370 in a bid to relieve traffic congestion. The present motorway junction would become a bridge and through road, allowing vehicles to move freely along the A370 in and out of Weston.

But in a bitter blow to Banwell residents, no plans for a bypass were included in the study. Village residents have protested about the volume of traffic, including heavy lorries, that travel through its narrow streets for a number of years.

A Greater Bristol Transport spokesman said: "While Banwell was looked at, it was felt it did not fit within the bigger picture for the Greater Bristol area and should be looked at by North Somerset Council."

Weston MP John Penrose said he was disappointed no proposals for a solution to Banwell's traffic problems were included in the plans.

The paper, which transport experts have been working on for 18 months, was funded by the Government, the Highways Agency, the South West of England Regional Development Agency, as well as the area's four local authorities including North Somerset Council.

Rob Thompson, project manager for transport consultants Atkins, which undertook the study, said: "The study has identified a series of measures which have been designed to cater for the likely growth in people and jobs across the area in future. When the study is completed, the recommendations will be considered by the local authorities and other study partners before they decide on an implementation programme."

A leaflet, showing details of the recommendations, will soon be available in libraries, leisure centres and council offices.

[madhattie]

A park and ride scheme and an express bus link to Bristol International Airport have also been put forward as part of the proposals for the interchange to be completed byby 2031.

They're going to solve the traffic problems of 2005 by building things in 2031. Fantastic!

Maybe it's just me, but I imagine that by 2031 the traffic problems of the area will be somewhat different. (and someone else will be creaming a couple of million in tax payers money to produce these daft reports)

[Graham]

It's typical that Banwell, with its trunk A368 road constantly choked with through traffic to W-S-M, is desperately in need of a bypass yet the 'experts' snub it and come up with other completely unneccesary, inappropriate and unneeded proposals like moving a motorway and transforming the tiny station of Worle into a huge parkway station.

It's just becoming more and more common these days that you get a bunch of 'experts', probably dragged off the street, coming up with a bunch of crazy schemes costing several million pounds and attempt to say they are good ideas. And I'll bet my bottom dollar the government will go ahead with this, too.