“It is a gross exaggeration to say that St Martins Road is not safe to cross. I use it frequently using various modes of transport and often see no traffic at all. It is in fact one of the quietest roads in Knowle borne out by the picture taken of some residents there. It takes time to assemble people for a photograph posing in the very relaxed way they are across the entire width of the road and in daylight. You couldn't do that in Talbot/Priory Road it's far too dangerous. The problem of excess traffic in this part of Knowle can be traced back to the 1990's when the government set up the Bristol Development Corporation empowered to bypass the slow moving wheels of local government that are often wasteful and inept. The Bristol Development Corporation built the Spine Road at St Philips which may have sounded like a good idea but was not well thought out. Instead of taking traffic around Bristol via the ring-road it dumped it on the A4 Bath Road with nowhere to go. Brislington village couldn't handle it so much of it began coming up Talbot Hill. That situation still exists today as most of the traffic traversing Talbot/Priory Roads is through traffic rather than that of residents. Talbot/Priory Roads swiftly became the meat in the sandwich between south Bristol and the motorway. But it was never constructed for this purpose. In years gone by this road was known as Talbot Lane because that's what it was; a dirt track. And even today it's only a "B" road unfit to take the vast volume of traffic it currently does each day. In addition there's a 7.5 tonne weight restriction in operation along the entire length of Talbot/Priory Roads. This means that no vehicle displaying yellow and orange chevrons across the rear is allowed to enter this area unless it is putting down or picking up. Yet every day this weight restriction is broken yet few, if any, prosecutions are made. Vehicles of this category are typically skip lorries, box vans, buses, HGV's, furniture lorries, and just about any type of commercial vehicle. Everyday in Talbot/Priory Roads vehicles in this category travel straight through without stopping yet few, if any, travel along St Martins Road. The real injustice is that local councillors know this but do little or nothing to sort it out. The only solution to reducing the vast amount of traffic passing through Talbot/Priory Road each day lies with them. TRAC (Talbot Road Action Committee) was formed in the 1990's to address these matters and in doing so amassed a great deal of statistical information concerning traffic flows in this part of Knowle. Much of it was presented to the then Highways Committee which failed to take the decisive action needed to solve the problem once and for all. What is needed now is a community solution to the traffic problem in this area not a piecemeal one. Shutting St Martins Road will not achieve this just push traffic elsewhere. However, to the residents of St Martins Road I would add this: be careful what you wish for you might actually get it and then regret it later. The road closures currently underway near Wells Road are more about bus lanes, European grants and politics than they are about improving life for local residents.
Ridgeback22”

“Where is the block I sent after registering here earlier this week? Or are only the "chosen few" selected? You must have what I wrote about St Martins Road so let's see it displayed here for others to see.

Ridgeback22”

“Tut tut, @HomeisBS3, parking in Martins Road to shop at Broadwalk, when there is a perfectly good, free car park. The residents won't thank you for taking up their spaces, you know. ;)


Anyway, are there any shops left at Broadwalk these days?”

“@BetterBristol
Localism is fine but this LibDem BCC runs sham CONsultations to ask opinions and then ploughs on with its own plans regardless.
Whiteladies Road GBBN was voted down by something like 75% of comments and 19 out of the 20 schemes.
But we were told that 'although the response may appear negative in fact residents misunderstood the details'!!
Despite us being shown plans, going to meeting and popping into the waste of time GBBN shop on Black Boy Hill. So I think we DID understand the details and we didn't like them!
Then WLR is narrowed to one lane and ploughed up. The only improvement is new paving but now it's wider the cyclists come screaming down it or puffing up it to avoid the one-lane road as they now claim it's dangerous for them!
I have saved the bus timetables from November 2011 to compare how many seconds are saved on the spring version, though actually I think it will take everyone 5 minutes longer.
This is the same party whose leader (Babs Janke) says we aren't interested in giving our opinions and TELLS US we don't want major. Bring it on luv.”

“I use this route fairly often, simply because up to now it has often been impossible to turn right into Priory Road from Wells Road, due to the oncoming traffic from the south bound lane.

Now there is a recently finished dedicated right turn lane and filter light at the Broad Walk junction. It may be that the situation has been improved and I will henceforth change my habit and try turning right at the main junction.

Having said that, as a frequent user of St Martins Road for the past two years, I have never encountered any problem with impatient drivers and always met with courteous giving way for others as I given way to opposing vehicles myself. It is well used on road parking and not a route that would gladly be chosen.

Lets hope that the improvements at the Broad Walk/A37 junction are indeed improving traffic flow, and that careful attention will be paid to phasing and synchronising the pedestrian lights with the road traffic controls.

Additionally, I would add that any mother extracting their baby on the traffic side of the car is putting themselves and offspring at risk, anywhere at any time and this is not special to St Martins Road. Concerned parents should take the trouble to park in such a manner that the baby can be safely extracted on the footpath side of the vehicle.

Concerned parents should also not put themselves at risk by attempting to cross any road in front of speeding traffic without being sure that it safe to do so.

Let us hope that drivers will use some common sense and avoid St Martins Road in the future and that when the improvements have been completed, the problems can be resolved with some simple basic traffic calming measures. The chicanes are already in place, just a few bumps to foil the foolhardy are all that is needed,and without restricting access for emergency services.”

“I agree with BetterBristol. I applaud any person or groups of people who make the effort to improve their and their childrens' lives. They deserve credit for this, not vilification. I've parked in the road in question to go to the Broadwalk centre before and the one time I did, I struggled to get my baby into the car seat because of idiots flying down the road so they have my sympathy. It seems to me that there are two wider issues at play here though:
1) If people MUST use ratrun shortcuts, then lets try to curb their speed somehow; would instantly-issued speeding tickets work here?
2) If Bristol City Council actually provided a decent public transport infrastructure, then perhaps more people would use it, lessening the weight of traffic on our roads.”

“That's kind of the idea that under the locality bill people choose to campaign for something that will relate to them! This can be also a force for good in the case of minority groups. The idea is that they are feeding back to the Council on how their community can be changed to make THEIR lives better, and not just put up with Top-Down policy making. Again, a positive democratic thing. SO much negativity in these comments....”

“Side Roads and 'rat-runs' are the only roads that acually move in Bristol since the idiots responsible for the GBBN messed everything up. Of course people will find alternative routes if the main ones become so restricted. Get rid of bus lanes, demolish sticky out bus stops, reduce traffice lights by 50% and unblock the roads you have closed off and things will start to improve.”

“"The people in this road, by the sounds of things, have all got together to make a change for good"

Yes - for them and no-one else. If you don't like traffic (legally) passing your house, move to a cul-de-sac like I did.

"At least if there are loads more cul-de-sacs/traffic calming schemes, people will be more tempted to get the bus in this city,"

Utter hogwash. The scary thing is, there are morons on the council that actually think that.

Pauls81 is spot on.”

“I wonder how many of the residents themselves use side roads as "rat runs" to avoid queues, busy junctions?”