Preferred option announcement
Following an eight week public consultation that took place in August/September 2018, Derby City Council have given the feedback careful consideration, along with other technical evidence in order to select and refine our preferred option, to help address roadside NO2 air quality issues in the city.
The assessments show that the traffic management option is the best option for Derby. Further refinement of this option has been undertaken following the consultation process to ensure it is the best option for the aims of the project.
Derby City Council are implementing traffic management measures to manage the flow of traffic in and around Stafford Street including the roads closest to the exceedance location:
- Changes to the junctions at either end of Stafford Street to restrict traffic flow in the most sensitive area.
- Changes to improve capacity at the Ashbourne Road/Uttoxeter Old Road junction to help provide alternative route choices.
- Traffic management measures to support alternative routes such as Uttoxeter Old Road.
In order to ensure that the full air quality benefits are achieved from the proposed changes to Stafford Street traffic management, the following changes will be required at the Ashbourne Road/Uttoxeter Old Road junction to achieve:
- two general traffic lanes from Uttoxeter Old Road into Friar Gate
- two lanes of general traffic from Friar Gate into Bridge Street.
These will be supported by wider network management measures to ensure we get the best possible benefits for the package of measures and to limit any negative impacts including:
- Improvements to the network management control system that manages traffic signals in Derby to help ensure we have a better system that can manage the traffic flows and the road network to support the air quality agenda.
Supporting measures
The local air quality plan will also propose schemes to help with the early uptake of low emission vehicles and to provide greater encouragement of the use of sustainable and active travel choices.
This includes further promotion of sustainable and active travel options and other supporting schemes to help the public make informed travel choices including:
- Clean air incentive scheme - targeted accelerated fleet renewal, incentives to upgrade or switch to low emission vehicles, or an alternative form of transport through: the use of mobility credits, or community car clubs.
- Electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other measures to support electric vehicle uptake.
The proposal does not include a clean air zone or any form of charging. It is considered that the package of measures proposed for the preferred option can achieve the aims of the project without the need for a clean air zone. However, in prioritising specific measures on the highway network to address the exceedance, there will be some redistribution of traffic flow.
Read our news announcement.