Oppose the Lexden Bus Lane Proposals

The car driving (and chauffeur driven) ECC Tory cabinet appear incapable of rational thought. Shared cycle/pedestrian paths on busy routes is contrary to national DfT guidelines, common sense, best practice around the globe etc. Excuses about budgets are deceitful. Switch some of the road improvement budget to building fit for purpose cycling and walking routes and enable modal shift for day to day travel. ECC cycling infrastructure efforts in Colchester are largely shameful.

This proposal will damage one of the most attractive approaches to Colchester. It is unnecessary and not wanted!

The bus lane is a ridiculous idea. The pavements at school time are heaving with children waiting for buses. If you walk along there at that time, you will find that you often have to walk in the road to get past, so making the pavement narrower and sharing it with cycles is looking for trouble. More people and children will spill out onto the road. There will be accidents. The problem is school buses and school turn out time. Something that will not change just because of a bus lane. Spending a vast amount of money on something which is not needed and will only make things worse is scandalous. The road runs perfectly freely the rest of the time. Surely the council should be spending money on other projects which really are necessary.

This would be ridiculous and put many children's lives at risk from the paths being narrower and the removal of the zebra crossing ??

Dangerous and stupid idea, the person trying to do this obviously hasn't been there when the schools come out!!!

Expansion of roads invariably leads to additional traffic, and we are very concerned about the impact of pollution on our children, and those in all of the schools along the road. There are other more environmentally friendly options that would improve public transport and would not require an additional lane. Road safety would be another concern - many people cross the road all along the route and the extra lane would add to the risk. The character of Lexden's conservation area would also be permanently damaged.

Nothing will relieve the congestion down Lexden road at peak times. There are many schools that have many children being picked up by car. Creating a bus lane won't change that and may increase congestion for non bus road traffic. What this change will do is reduce the safety of school children using the footpaths.

This is clearly a very dangerous and unnecessary proposal. At school times the paths are already full and spill over into the road with children. At this time there are also a lot of young cyclists in the cycle lane on the road, putting the two of these together will clearly cause accidents. Busses into town are not an issue as the road runs freely outside of school hours, the issue is the number of busses traveling the opposite direction to pick the children up and as such this will not help. There are better ways of spending this money in other areas of Colchester. This road with its many preservation orders is a beautiful approach to Colchester town which will clearly be visually spoiled by these plans also

This is a ridiculous idea! If anything causes congestion it's the buses at school times. When two buses stop opposite each other outside St Mary's then there is not enough room for two lanes of cars to get past. I can see three things that may help to aliviate this issue. Firstly the bus Park at St Benedicts that only allows St Benedicts students to get on the buses needs to let students from other schools on and therefore there will be less students having to walk around to the bus stops causing the issue. Secondly and slightly more difficult to implement is to provide the buses a lay by style bus stop maybe by taking some of the frontage at St Mary's school, or by staggering the bus stops further along the road. Thirdly to help the buses get out of the bus Park at Norman way part time traffic signals could be implemented. School times are the only time when Lexden Road is not free flowing even at main rush hour times the road still flows. Busses can often be seen running significantly less than the speed limit because they are early and therefore need no special lane to keep them on time! These plans will cause more congestion as well as an obvious safety hazard whilst ruining the beauty of the road and conservation area that as residents we have to gain permission to make any changes to!

An absurd idea!

This is a dangerous & pointless scheme, it will not help reduce congestion & will endanger vulnerable road users especially school children.

I oppose the idea to create a bus lane on Lexden Rd Colchester. It will be dangerous for all road users.

Anyone who lives or goes to school on Lexden Road will understand that reducing the size of the pavement is a very clear safety hazard. All it takes is to stand anywhere on Lexden Road around 4 o'clock on a weekday to see that the school kids already take up the entire pavement or spill out onto the road. It also appears fairly common sense that combining pedestrians and cyclists in one reduced-size lane is an accident waiting to happen. There is only traffic for around two hours a day and most Colcheter locals know to avoid the road during that time where possible, using the alternate routes available. This seems both dangerous and unnecessary and the money would be better spent improving areas where there is substantial and prolonged traffic issues (i.e. The Avenue of Remembrance)

Absurd suggestion to put bus lanes along Lexden Road - wake up CBC!

No to the bus lane

Having lived in Lexden for over 25 years I feel very strongly that this is another costly, unwanted and ill thought through plan by Essex County Council to impose something on this town that it clearly doesn't need or want. It is a beautiful road that will be made much more dangerous and much less attractive. It will cost a fortune and is totally pointless.

As a Parent and teacher, whose child goes to a Lexden Road school this plan is ridiculous, dangerous and poorly conceived.

Totally unnecessary spend of tax payers money and to no one's benefit. Another crazy scheme from Chelmsford. Fill the pot holes before spending this money.

Un-necessary. The only time there is high traffic is for the schools. Bus lane not the answer.

This plan is totally unnecessary and will only increase congestion and danger.