La Route Orange, St Brelade: Pedestrian Safety Improvements

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A decision made on 15 November 2019

Decision Reference: MD-T-2019-0055
Decision Summary Title	Pedestrian Safety Improvements, La Route Orange, St Brelade		Date of Decision Summary:	12 November 2019
Decision Summary Author:	Assistant Engineer Transport		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Pedestrian Safety Improvements, La Route Orange, St Brelade		Date of Written Report:	12 November 2019
Written Report Author:	Assistant Engineer Transport		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: To approve pedestrian safety improvements on Route Orange in St Brelade.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the following improvements to La Route Orange in the area of La Moye School and Les Creux Country Park: Gateway features on entering and exiting the area Raised table zebra crossing at La Moye School and at Les Creux Creating a ‘virtual’ footway – a footway flush with the carriageway with a different coloured surface and bollard protection from La Moye Garage to Le Clos Orange Footway widening at La Moye School and close to the entrance of Les Creux Removal of bus lay-by to accommodate the crossing close to Les Creux entrance Permanent 20mph zone
Reason(s) for Decision: To provide safer walking facilities for residents and students walking to and from La Moye School as part of Safer Routes to Schools and to benefit other pedestrians in the area and around the many activities in Les Creux Park.
Resource Implications: GHE officer time funding from 2020 and 2021 capital programme
Action required: Detailed design of enabling works and footway
Signature:		Position: Minister for Infrastructure
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

La Route Orange, St Brelade: Pedestrian Safety Improvements

DEPARTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS, LA ROUTE ORANGE, ST BRELADE

Purpose of the Report

To request the Minister to approve the pedestrian safety improvements on La Route Orange in the area of La Moye School and Les Creux Country Park. The improvements include:

Gateway features on entering and exiting the area
Raised table zebra crossing at La Moye School and at Les Creux
Creating a ‘virtual’ footway – a footway flush with the carriageway with a different coloured surface and bollard protection from La Moye Garage to Le Clos Orange
Footway widening at La Moye School and close to the entrance of Les Creux
Removal of bus lay-by to accommodate the crossing close to Les Creux entrance
Permanent 20mph zone

Background

During the summer of 2016, road safety requests were sent by members of the public to both the Parish of St Brelade and to Growth Housing and Environment – Transport (previously Department for Infrastructure, DfI) regarding the area between La Moye Garage and Le Clos Orange Estate and crossing La Route Orange to access the facilities at Les Creux Country Park. The main concerns were:

Lack of pavement between the Garage and Le Clos Orange forcing people to walk in the road
Speed of traffic
No safe crossing to the park

A review of the safety issues in the area was undertaken by road safety specialists which concluded that there were no quick wins (low cost simple interventions) and further investigation was needed.

Further investigations took place and a concept was drawn up which was signed off by both the Minister for Infrastructure, via a Ministerial Decision, and the Connétable of St Brelade in early 2018.

In December 2017, a request was sent to the Road Safety Review Panel requesting a crossing on La Route Orange to the school which was subsequently reviewed in the January 2018 Road Safety Request Review meeting. It was agreed at this meeting that there was merit in looking at the issue further and that it would be added to the Department’s work schedule.

A petition was then started by the residents to get a crossing at the school location established by the end of the school summer holidays 2018. This petition was championed by Deputy Tadier who then took this to the States under Proposition P.61/2018 on 6 March 2018. The Minister for Infrastructure put in an amendment to the original proposition on 29 March 2018 requesting that the time period for implementation be extended from 1 September 2018 to 1 September 2019. The amended proposition was carried forward on 26 June 2018.

With the two areas, La Route Orange by the school and by Les Creux Country Park, both requesting road safety improvements, it was felt that the area needed to be reviewed as a whole and to avoid unintended consequences of carrying out one scheme on the other.

Discussion

A public consultation was held on 21 November 2018 to gather information on the issues and concerns of residents and school users. Twenty-six people completed a questionnaire during the parents’ consultation, 18 were completed during the evening consultation and a further 18 responded via the website. Three questionnaires were received by other methods. Of the combined responses, 15% lived within 200m of La Moye School, 21% within 500m and a further 22% within 800m of the school. A further 8% lived in either Quennevais Park or Clos des Sables, 18% elsewhere in St Brelade and 10% from another parish. Six percent of respondents did not state where they lived.

There was an overwhelming response to the question of whether there is a need to make the area safer with 75% of responses ticking yes.

The main concerns raised were

Speed of vehicles
Lack of crossings by the school and by Les Creux
The lack of or the width of the footways, including within the park.
Parking issues

The questionnaire also gathered views on how best to overcome these issues. The most popular response was a controlled crossing by the school. Other options included:

Traffic calming measures
A crossing at Les Creux
Improved footway provision, including within the park.
Improved policing.

Following the consultation, three options were developed:

Option 1 School signalised crossing – pelican crossing by the school, localised footway widenings, part-time 20mph and school crossing patrol retained.
Option 2 Village treatment – school zebra crossing on a raised table, raised courtesy crossing by Les Creux, traffic calming features of gateways and median strips, part-time 20mph and school crossing patrol retained.
Option 3 Pedestrian priority treatment – raised table zebra crossing at La Moye School and at Les Creux, virtual footway from La Moye Garage to Le Clos Orange, localised footway widenings, traffic calming features of gateways and median strip, removal of bus lay-by, permanent 20mph zone and school crossing patrol retained.

The option to ‘Do Nothing’ was also put forward at the second consultation which was held on 13 March 2019.

Twenty-nine people completed a questionnaire at the parents’ consultation and thirty-four were received on the evening, three responses came via the post and a further 16 responded via the website. Of the combined responses, 66% lived in La Moye, 27% elsewhere in St Brelade, and 7% lived in another parish. 73% thought the proposals addressed the concerns of the first consultation whilst 7% said it did not address the concerns.

The questionnaire asked the respondents to rank the four options in order of preference. Their preferred choice was awarded 4 points down to 1 point for their least favourite option.

The following table shows the number of people who ranked each option. Note: not all respondents filled out all 4 options.

Option	First Choice		Second Choice		Third Choice		Fourth Choice
	No of people	Ranking Score	No of people	Ranking Score	No of people	Ranking Score	No of people	Ranking Score
1-School Pelican Crossing	18	72	20	60	25	50	3	3
2 – Village treatment	15	60	28	84	17	34	8	8
3 – Pedestrian Priority	34	136	11	33	16	32	15	15
4 – No change	14	56	4	12	3	6	44	44

The results were also weighted so that the opinions of those living closest to the area, and therefore most affected by any option, were given greater emphasis than those in another parish. The weighting was:

Residents of La Moye area 1.5x
Residents living elsewhere in St Brelade 1x
Residents of another parish 0.5x

The consultation report has been published on the Government of Jersey website at

https://www.gov.je/sitecollectiondocuments/government%20and%20administration/r%20la%20moye%20and%20les%20creux%20public%20consultation%20report%20190926%20jt.pdf

Conclusion

There was clear local community feedback for improvements to the area, with the pedestrian priority option being the most popular. This will improve pedestrian safety through the area, will encourage more walking and contribute to safer walking routes to school.

Giving pedestrians priority over motor vehicles by introducing raised zebra crossings, a virtual footway from the garage, where there is presently no facilities, and a permanent 20mph speed limit are all in line with parts of the Council of Ministers strategic priorities for their term in office, being:

To put children first
To improve Islanders’ wellbeing and mental and physical health
To protect and value our environment

and in line with the STP which aims to encourage more sustainable modes of travel particularly around schools which reduces congestion to local schools. Reduced congestion benefits air quality for students and residents and reduces carbon emissions to the environment.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the changes in the layout of La Route Orange to include:

Raised table zebra crossings
Traffic calming features in the form of gateways and median strips
Virtual footway
Speed limit change

Reason(s) for Decision

To provide safer walking facilities for residents and students walking to and from La Moye School as part of Safer Routes to Schools and to benefit other pedestrians in the area and around the many activities in Les Creux Park

Resource Implications

To be funded from the 2020 and 2021 capital Programme

Action Required

Detailed design work to be finalised and implemented.

Written by:	Assistant Engineer, Transport

Approved by:	Director of Transport

Attachments:	Consultation 3 poster La Moye School – Option 3 Proposed Crossing with Pavement Buildout Drawing No 103-001 Les Creux Junction – Option 3 Proposed Crossing with Kerb Buildout Drawing No 103-002

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