Work starting on Norwich inner ring road’s Grapes Hill on Monday, 28 April, heralds a summer of changes that will transform access to the city centre for buses, and bring improvements for pedestrians and cyclists on busy shopping streets.
The construction of a bus lane up Grapes Hill, creation of a new access route into the city centre via Chapel Field North, and the removal of general traffic (except buses, taxis and bicycles) from Rampant Horse Street, St Stephen’s and part of Surrey Street have been welcomed by bus operators. The changes are expected to be in place before Christmas shopping begins in earnest.
The work on Grapes Hill is to create a southbound (uphill) bus lane, in addition to the two general traffic lanes. This will allow buses to avoid queues at the Grapes Hill roundabout.
The work is being carried out for Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council by Lafarge Tarmac and will take around 12 weeks to complete. Grapes Hill will remain open, but lane closures will be required and the councils apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.
The Grapes Hill project will be followed by the Chapel Field North and St Stephen’s schemes. These will create a new route into the city centre for buses, taxis and cycles, and remove general traffic from Rampant Horse Street (between Debenhams and Marks & Spencer), St Stephen’s Street and Surrey Street (from St Stephen’s to All Saints Green).
Changes that make this possible include:
- Making Chapel Field North two-way, with a 20mph speed limit and general traffic only allowed as far as the Chantry Car Park. (Buses, taxis and cyclists will be able to carry on into Rampant Horse Street.)
- Removal of the pavement on the southern side of Chapel Field North, but with an improved cycle and pedestrian path inside Chapelfield Gardens and pedestrian crossings to the north side pavement
- Two-way traffic on Cleveland Road from Grapes Hill Roundabout, allowing the closure of Little Bethel Street to vehicles
- Right turn only into Red Lion Street at the bottom of Westlegate for general traffic, so that it cannot cross into Rampant Horse Street.
The construction programme for the Chapel Field North and St Stephen’s/Surrey Street is still being finalised, but work will finish before the important pre-Christmas period. Work on Chapel Field North may begin before Grapes Hill is complete.
Altogether the three linked projects will cost around £1.7M. The Grapes Hill and St Stephen’s schemes are being largely paid for through the Department for Transport’s Better Bus Area Fund. The Chapel Field North scheme is funded by Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, developer contributions (Section 106) and Growth Point Funding (via the Greater Norwich Development Partnership).
David Harrison, Norfolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Development & Waste, said: “These are important Transport for Norwich projects that will make it quicker and easier for buses to get into the city centre, and at the same time improve important shopping streets for pedestrians. The Government’s Better Bus Area fund is making an important contribution to the cost, and has also helped us develop a range of other improvements, including the ‘holdall’ smartcard ticket for Park and Ride, improved bus information and measures such as bus priority at traffic lights, and business travel packs. The aim is to make bus travel people’s first choice because it is high quality, reliable and easy to use.”
Steve Wickers, Commercial Director Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk for FirstGroup plc, said: “The changes to Norwich City Centre’s traffic network are welcomed by First and demonstrate what can be achieved through partnership working between local authorities, operators and other key stakeholders.
“The improvements to Chapelfield North in particular will allow us to reroute our busy Blue Line services which link the Station, City Centre and University, offering a more direct journey with fewer delays. The changes are good news for Norwich, as bus passengers will benefit from improved reliability of services encouraging more people to use the bus.”
Julian Patterson, Managing Director of Konectbus/Anglianbus, said: “These significant improvements to bus flow in the city centre will further enhance the appeal of bus travel by enabling quicker access to shops and businesses and removing some of the timetable unpredictability by not sharing road space with car park queues.”
