DEPARTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
CONWAY STREET FOOTWAY IMPROVEMENTS
Purpose of the Report
To approve the widening of the western footway along Conway Street between Commercial Street and Broad Street in support of the States of Jersey Strategic Plan and the Future St Helier Initiative.
Background
In April 2014, the Connétable of St Helier and the St Helier Roads Committee wrote to the former Minister requesting the widening of the west footway in Conway Street.
The town of St Helier is one of the key priorities of the 2015-2018 States of Jersey Strategic Plan where it is intended to create a high quality urban environment where attractive, well-used public spaces meet the needs of town residents and visitors. As part of the Future St Helier initiative, a Public Realm Strategy is being developed to increase the quality and quantity of public space – streets, squares, parks, other green space – and the links between them.
The Future St Helier: Ministerial Oversight Group, comprising the Ministers for Infrastructure and the Environment and the Connétable of St Helier, agreed in February 2015 that Conway Street was a key priority.
A public engagement for Future St Helier in May 2015 identified support for improved pedestrian space, with particular reference to Conway Street.
In September 2015 Jersey in Transition, a registered charity and an official Transition Network initiative, called for more areas of St Helier to be pedestrianised and one of the streets they campaigned for was Conway Street. They carried out a comprehensive survey in Conway Street and established that two-thirds of the movements were by pedestrians and cyclists and a third by motor vehicles.
Discussion
Conway Street has been identified as a major pedestrian link between the Waterfront, financial centre, Liberation Station and the pedestrian precinct.
The existing footway on the western side of Conway Street varies in width from 1.6m to 2.4m. The street frontage is comprised of shops ranging from small gift shops to sandwich bars to a bank. The nature of the shops means that there is a lot of stopping and starting of pedestrians, especially visitors perusing the shop windows, and people crossing in front of others to access the shops. This often leads to pedestrians being forced into the road. By contrast, the eastern footway is between 2.2m and 2.7m wide and a limited number of shop fronts.
A recent lunchtime survey of pedestrian usage showed that 1,518 pedestrians were on the western footway and 509 on the eastern footway in an hour. There is therefore approximately three times the volume of pedestrians on the narrower footway.
At the junction of Commercial Street and Conway Street, the narrow footways allow limited inter-visibility around the adjacent buildings that result in southbound pedestrians stepping out where drivers are paying attention to traffic approaching from the south. This potentially causes a safety hazard for pedestrians.
The proposal to widen the footway by at least 800mm along its length from Commercial Street to Broad Street will help to establish Conway Street as a pedestrian priority corridor and make it a more pleasant experience for users.
There is an existing unloading bay in Conway Street between Cross Street and Bond Street. In order to maintain a 3.5m lane for traffic, the unloading bay will need to be relocated. Following consultation with the Parish of St Helier, the unloading bay is to be relocated to Wharf Street. The footway by the existing unloading bay will be reinstated.
The initial design was to create a kerb buildout on the north side of Commercial Street to improve inter-visibility between southbound pedestrians and drivers pulling out of Commercial Street. This would provide greater pedestrian benefits as drivers would tend to be looking to the south where the traffic is coming from. Due to existing constraints within Commercial Street, namely unloading bays and underground car parking, it has proved not to be viable to create a north footway buildout. It is therefore proposed to build a kerb buildout on the south side of Commercial Street. This will aid pedestrians walking northbound towards the precinct and traffic approaching in Commercial Street. Although this option does not provide the same level of service to pedestrians as a build out on the north side, in the context of the wider proposals it would still add value and help to protect the widened footway in Conway Street by guiding approaching vehicles into the narrowed road lane.
The zebra crossing at Commercial Street will be removed and replaced with a courtesy crossing (as recommended by Safety Auditor’s Technical Note 01)
A stage 1 road safety audit is being undertaken.
Conclusion
The scheme will provide safety benefits to pedestrians and improve the public realm on a priority pedestrian route.
Recommendation
The Minister is recommended to approve the widening of the western footway, removal of zebra crossing and kerb build out at Commercial Street and the relocation of the unloading bay from Conway Street to Wharf Street.
Reason(s) for Decision
To improve pedestrian safety and the public realm in Conway Street, in accordance with the States of Jersey Strategic Plan and the Future St Helier initiative.
Resource Implications
The cost of the scheme is to be funded as part of the Department’s Sustainable Transport and Road Safety Schemes programme.
Action Required
Detailed design by Highways team, construction by States of Jersey Direct Labour Organisation.
Written by: | Assistant Engineer – Transport Policy |
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Approved by: | Director, Transport |
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Attachments: | Plan |
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