11 May 2023
Does St Albans city centre face permanent traffic chaos when the experimental road closure extends to seven days a week? That worrying scenario was very much a possibility under Herts county council’s outline plans for the scheme.
High Street, George Street and part of Verulam Road were originally closed by HCC in the wake of the first Covid lockdown to allow for social distancing measures. Following a temporary lifting, they returned in October as part of an experiment into pedestrianisation.
This time round, George Street, Market Place, Spencer Street and Upper Dagnall Street were permanently closed throughout the trial, but High Street and Verulam Road were only shut from Friday evenings until early Monday mornings.
These weekend closures resulted in major congestion at both The Peahen junction and St Peter’s Street roundabout, with motorists ignoring pedestrian crossings in order to get across traffic lights.
Further down the line were plans to close High Street, George Street and the affected section of Verulam Road all week, increasing the chaos seen on Saturdays and Sundays to the full seven days.
But this part of the trial is now well behind schedule, and after waiting more than a month for a response to our queries, HCC has finally provided the St Albans Times with details on how the scheme will continue for the remainder of its duration.
A spokesperson confirmed: “At present we are concentrating on the weekend closure of High Street and we are not planning to change to a seven-day closure.
“George Street and Market Place will remain closed to motor vehicle traffic seven days a week (allowing vehicle access between 7 and 11am) for the remainder of the trial which is due to conclude later this year.”
No reason was provided as to why the original plans have changed, and whether this was a consequence of the traffic chaos witnessed at weekends, often caused by satnav providers not being aware of the closures.
The spokesperson insisted HCC had done everything in its power to ensure drivers were aware of the need to take alternative routes, especially when travelling from east to west: “We have made mapping and navigation system providers aware of the current times of closure for motor vehicles. Unfortunately we cannot influence how particular providers’ systems work.”
As part of the closures, HCC was supposed to oversee air and traffic monitoring systems to determine what sort of knock-on impact there was for other streets in the city centre, including around Holywell Hill.
The HCC spokesperson confirmed that the the baseline for air quality testing was from St Albans district council’s diffusion tube sites using 2019 figures, thus avoiding any comparisons with the quieter streets seen during the pandemic.
He added: “Automatic traffic counters are located in Folly Lane and Hatfield Road, and speed and volume surveys at six sites took place in June 2022. These surveys are due to be repeated this summer.”
The county council’s survey into the ongoing road closure experiment will remain open until autumn 2023. Have your say at https://surveys.hertfordshire.gov.uk/s/
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The spokesperson added: “We would like as many people to have their say as possible, whether they support the aims of the trial or not. The results will be available once the survey has concluded and the results have been analysed.”
