is it my imagination but is Ipswich one large traffic-light-controlled contraflow at the moment? I thought we were supposed to be cutting back on public works due to austerity?
I seemed to be delayed by road works, temporary traffic lights and contraflows everywhere I went yesterday. Particularly frustrating were the delays at the four way traffic controls at the Nacton Road/Landseer Road roundabout. Does anyone know what is happening there or how long it will last? I will be avoiding that route till the work is finished!
Hi..yes...for us living where they are working we've had this:
Urban Traffic Management Control
We’re currently introducing a brand new system for the Ipswich area to manage traffic. This is a computer controlled urban traffic management and control system (UTMC).
The new system will be able to:
Coordinate traffic signals
Operate variable-message signs to give drivers information on special events, or warnings of congestion or accidents
Give real time information to bus passengers
Make it possible to give late running buses priority at junctions
Monitor air quality.
UTMC will create a better and more efficient way of managing traffic. This would mean:
Better management of main roads into Ipswich, to smooth traffic flow and reduce congestion and pollution
Sensors along the road will check traffic flow, bus times and pollution levels
Traffic signal timings will be changed automatically to manage congestion, improve bus journey times and reduce pollution
Systems that inform the public about accidents, congestion and events though use of an improved web site and apps
Information signs for motorists and real time information located at bus stops for bus passengers.
UTMC will create a better and more efficient way of managing traffic. This would mean:
Linking all the technologies together provides a smarter, more informed system that is better placed to manage the traffic reducing delays and congestion for all users.
Putting in the new system means small changes to many existing signals. It also includes putting in new traffic signals at some junctions. In addition to the Princes Street / Civic Drive junction we will be putting in new signals at Norwich Road / Chevalier Street, Nacton Road/ Felixstowe Road and Woodbridge Road/Argyle Street.
If you want any more information on UTMC or the Travel Ipswich project generally please contact us at TravelIpswich@suffolk.gov.uk
So apart from Nacton Road, I suggest you avoid Sproughton Road/ Bramford Road as well at work times.
Personally I think that groups of people should charter their own 'blimps', park in the park & ride and just get set down at your work place...much easier.....
A lot of the roadworks in the town centre are part of Suffolk County Council's Travel Ipswich programme. More information can be found here: www.travelipswich.co.uk
The roadworks at the Nacton Road/Landseer Road roundabout are being carried out by Anglian Water, and are due to be completed by Tuesday 12th February.
I see in the overly large PDF http://www.travelipswich.co.uk/assets/UTMC/AECOM-ipswich-tier-map-UTMC.pdf that Norwich Road/Chevalier Street is to get signals. Is there any further info on this? Will the double RABs disappear and it become a "simple" crossroads again. Also both sets of lights at the top of Valley Road hill are marked with a "1", does this mean at long last they will be correctly syncronised as promised years ago?
Finally are there any links to the supplier of this system and its capabilities. Is it a proactive system monitored and controlled on an hourly/daily basis by operators, or is it just customisable to fixed patterns which should be reveiwed and changed regulalrly?
We would suggest emailing your questions to travelipswich@suffolk.gov.uk as this is Suffolk County Council's scheme and as such, we are unable to provide the answers to your questions.
Gobsmacked! How is this a Suffolk County Council Scheme, when it is all within the boundaries of Ipswich?
Having looked at the site and the pre-amble about congestion and traffic flow, all I see from this scheme are changes to slow traffic and increase danger for pedestrians.
Why are all the barriers around pedestrian crossings being removed? This work has been completed at the bottom of Fonnereau Rd and already pedestrians are walking amongst the traffic, rather than being corralled to use the crossing (for their own protection). How long before we have some serious accidents and the barriers are reinstated?
The site http://www.travelipswich.co.uk needs to be given more visibility by IpswichStar as whenever there are articles on the roadworks in town there are a barrage of comments about the use of Traffic Lights. People need to know what is being done, and the reasons behind it (easier travel for cyclists), even if cyclists are few and far between making these journeys.
I thought I kept myself fairly well informed on these sorts of schemes, but I can't recall anyone being asked if we should reduce traffic flow (increase congestion) for the benefit of very small minority. In saying that let me be very clear I think we should accommodate cyclists, but there are ways to do this without bringing the town to a standstill.
Really good to find IBC & SCC informing us of what they have been about, these past months. It would be agreeable if they joined us on Streetlife,to answer the doubters and would do their PR an enormous amount of good.
Let's not knock it. It's great to see that Ipswich is going to maintain it's position as the Traffic Light Capital. Ironic though that the SCC scheme is designed to ease traffic flow into the centre; IBC obviously didn't mention that they've been working hard to suck the life out of the centre by allowing the development of out of town shopping. Still, at least the "workers" at SCC and IBC should have an easy passage into their offices.
I like the 'new' crossing at the bottom of Fonnereau Road. Moving the barriers had made it easier when there are lots of people wanting to cross - before we were always having to rush if we were at the back of a big group.
Nothing will suit everyone I know, but this one seems to work - I have seen lots of people not having to wait so long for their chance to cross - good news, specially when it is raining!!
Also it is good to see IBC answering our questions - now they just have to learn how to talk like the rest of us and not just council speak......"and as such we are unable to provide"..... How about, we are not in control of this, so we can only make suggestions to SCC!
I had a reply to my email to SCC. Here are the replies to the points raised:
The UTMC system will be monitored and controlled from Constantine House, Constantine Road in Ipswich . It will be manned in real times, and any necessary changes will be made over a bedding-in period.
On the subject of the three junctions: Valley Road / Norwich Road, Woodbridge Road / Argyle Street and Felixstowe Road / NactonRoad, the main change is gong to be that these junctions will all be controlled by traffic signals to allow the new UTMC system to work fully. There will be some more design information going onto the website shortly, when everything has been fully signed off.
Finally, the idea behind removing the barriers around pedestrian crossings came about because pedestrians already cross by walking amongst the traffic and can become trapped in the road by the barriers, and are therefore at risk. It was decided that pedestrians would be safer without the barriers in place.
According to IBC,we are in a recession and don't have any spare cash to fix potholes, missing road signs,faded road lines,etc. So where is all the money coming from for all the uneccesary beautification works going on in Ipswich? It is said that these works will bring more people into Ipswich. For what? Closed shops,charity shops,99p shops...
I know we are in a recession, and central Government has reduced support for County Councils. I guess this money for Traffic Management in Ipswich is coming from the previous CEO Andrea Hills massive income & shoe benefits, am I right SCC ? Now the Council has got more real about "Pay".
Don't get me started on the "big issue" sellers issue; this fine publication was first brought out to enable homeless "brits" to gain a bit of independence and self-worth whilst living rough. Now it is becoming the job of choice for"homeless" asylum seekers! "Beeg issew pleeze"
I always buy my Big Issue from the chap outside the Clarke's shoe shop for the simple reason that he NEVER begs or pleads or in any way intrudes but is always pleasant and polite when you do stop to speak to him.
I work in homelessness for two registered charities and belive that, contrary to it's purpose of 'helping the homeless help themselves', the Big Issue perpetuates homelessness. Having lived in Ipswich since 2005 I have noticed that the same people are selling it now as were then- certainly the lady outside Lakeland and the one that hangs out by Wilkinson. I don't know what the stories of these people are but if the Big Issue is achieving its aims, these people should have moved out of homelessness and passed the torch to some of the other sad souls who sleep in the doorways of the town. Back in the snow a number of weeks back I gave money to the same homeless man three times on three consecutive days. They say you shouldn't give money to them but he told me that wherever he goes he gets moved on. The last day I saw him he was freezing his backside off in front of the sewing shop up near Iceland.
Hi all first time I written on this site but been a member for a while and just had to reply about the big issue sellers outside Lakeland and wilkinson these ladies aren't homeless or in hostels they both live in private rented houses with their families and husbands who also run their own scrap metal business,sort of makes a mockery of what the big issue is all about really.
I concur with Chloe, the seller outside Wilkinson(in a wheelchair) lives on Norwich Road & can frequently be seen being pushed by her very well dressed Mercedes driving husband! These fraudsters should be stripped of their right to take income off the genuine homeless
The answer is not to buy Big Issues in the street, and instead add up what you would have paid over a year, and donate it a homeless charity like Shelter, or a local one like JIMAS.
Tony B, If she's in a wheelchair she probably hasn't missed a trick either and will be registered disabled. Then the Mercedes and its road tax are probably paid for by the state through the Motorbility scheme. Selling these magazines on the street really is a "big issue"
As of this weekend, all of the roadworks seem to have gone (apart from the longer term ones on College St around the new hotel, which were even being removed this morning as I passed)
Can IBC try to stagger these in future, because the cumulative effect of all of them at once was pretty bad in traffic last week.
Comments
Hi..yes...for us living where they are working we've had this:
Urban Traffic Management Control
We’re currently introducing a brand new system for the Ipswich area to manage traffic. This is a computer controlled urban traffic management and control system (UTMC).
The new system will be able to:
UTMC will create a better and more efficient way of managing traffic. This would mean:
Click here for a map showing where the UTMC systems will be installed
UTMC will create a better and more efficient way of managing traffic. This would mean:
Linking all the technologies together provides a smarter, more informed system that is better placed to manage the traffic reducing delays and congestion for all users.
Putting in the new system means small changes to many existing signals. It also includes putting in new traffic signals at some junctions. In addition to the Princes Street / Civic Drive junction we will be putting in new signals at Norwich Road / Chevalier Street, Nacton Road/ Felixstowe Road and Woodbridge Road/Argyle Street.
If you want any more information on UTMC or the Travel Ipswich project generally please contact us at TravelIpswich@suffolk.gov.uk
So apart from Nacton Road, I suggest you avoid Sproughton Road/ Bramford Road as well at work times.
Personally I think that groups of people should charter their own 'blimps', park in the park & ride and just get set down at your work place...much easier.....
Happy commuting....
The roadworks at the Nacton Road/Landseer Road roundabout are being carried out by Anglian Water, and are due to be completed by Tuesday 12th February.
I see in the overly large PDF http://www.travelipswich.co.uk/assets/UTMC/AECOM-ipswich-tier-map-UTMC.pdf that Norwich Road/Chevalier Street is to get signals. Is there any further info on this? Will the double RABs disappear and it become a "simple" crossroads again. Also both sets of lights at the top of Valley Road hill are marked with a "1", does this mean at long last they will be correctly syncronised as promised years ago?
Finally are there any links to the supplier of this system and its capabilities. Is it a proactive system monitored and controlled on an hourly/daily basis by operators, or is it just customisable to fixed patterns which should be reveiwed and changed regulalrly?
Having looked at the site and the pre-amble about congestion and traffic flow, all I see from this scheme are changes to slow traffic and increase danger for pedestrians.
Why are all the barriers around pedestrian crossings being removed? This work has been completed at the bottom of Fonnereau Rd and already pedestrians are walking amongst the traffic, rather than being corralled to use the crossing (for their own protection). How long before we have some serious accidents and the barriers are reinstated?
The site http://www.travelipswich.co.uk needs to be given more visibility by IpswichStar as whenever there are articles on the roadworks in town there are a barrage of comments about the use of Traffic Lights. People need to know what is being done, and the reasons behind it (easier travel for cyclists), even if cyclists are few and far between making these journeys.
I thought I kept myself fairly well informed on these sorts of schemes, but I can't recall anyone being asked if we should reduce traffic flow (increase congestion) for the benefit of very small minority. In saying that let me be very clear I think we should accommodate cyclists, but there are ways to do this without bringing the town to a standstill.
Valley Road / Norwich Road
Woodbridge Road / Argyle Street
Felixstowe Road / Nacton Road
Email sent as suggested above.
Nothing will suit everyone I know, but this one seems to work - I have seen lots of people not having to wait so long for their chance to cross - good news, specially when it is raining!!
Also it is good to see IBC answering our questions - now they just have to learn how to talk like the rest of us and not just council speak......"and as such we are unable to provide"..... How about, we are not in control of this, so we can only make suggestions to SCC!
I had a reply to my email to SCC. Here are the replies to the points raised:
The UTMC system will be monitored and controlled from Constantine House, Constantine Road in Ipswich . It will be manned in real times, and any necessary changes will be made over a bedding-in period.
On the subject of the three junctions: Valley Road / Norwich Road, Woodbridge Road / Argyle Street and Felixstowe Road / NactonRoad, the main change is gong to be that these junctions will all be controlled by traffic signals to allow the new UTMC system to work fully. There will be some more design information going onto the website shortly, when everything has been fully signed off.
Finally, the idea behind removing the barriers around pedestrian crossings came about because pedestrians already cross by walking amongst the traffic and can become trapped in the road by the barriers, and are therefore at risk. It was decided that pedestrians would be safer without the barriers in place.
Can IBC try to stagger these in future, because the cumulative effect of all of them at once was pretty bad in traffic last week.
Chevalier Sreet is closed South bound.
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