A HIGHWAYS expert has devised what he says could be a solution for Flintshire’s worst traffic blackspot.
Simon King, who has worked as a highways design engineer in Chester, has come up with a seven-point plan to solve the congestion nightmare that has plagued Shotton for years.
The Leader is running a campaign inviting our readers to come up with their own ideas to ease traffic through Deeside.
Mr King, who has lived in Shotton for more than 20 years, said: “I used to commute daily... so I have had first-hand experience of the hold-ups that can occur from the Asda lights right through Shotton.
“During the many hours that I have spent caught up in the traffic snarl-ups I have thought deeply about how the problems might be resolved.”
Mr King suggests removing the pedestrian crossings outside Boots and replacing them with traffic islands, converting the bus stops into lay-bys and co-ordinating the bus timetables to prevent two buses arriving at once.
He added: “The argument that the motorists would not let the buses out into the traffic flow is a very shallow one as there does not appear to be a problem with the operation of the bus lay-bys by Walkers Carpets or the old B&Q, as on many occasions I have seen buses being let out into the flow.”
Mr King also suggests stricter enforcement of the no parking restrictions and linking the traffic signals at Asda, Lidl and St Ethelwold’s with the new ones at King George Street and the ones by Somerfield.
The Leader has teamed up with Flintshire County Council to encourage readers to submit their suggestions on how the congestion chaos can be solved.
The council’s head of highways, Dave Faulkner, is considering every idea submitted before settling on a final solution.
Simon King's solution:
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Remove pedestrian crossings outside Boots, Alf Jones and Son and Deeside Fishing Tackle and replacing them with traffic islands.
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Covert the bus stops into lay-bys to avoid hold-ups and co-ordinate the bus time table to prevent two buses arriving at the same time.
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Turn the access into the car park behind Boots into ‘left in only’ from the Queensferry direction and ‘left out only’ in the Connah’s Quay direction.
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Change the traffic direction at the end of King George Street back to two-way and ‘signalise’ the junction, including a pedestrian phase to replace the loss of the traffic island outside HSBC.
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Change the traffic flows on Plymouth Street, where it joins the main road into ‘left turn in’ only and ‘left turn out’ only.
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Link the traffic signals at Asda, Lidl and St Ethelwold’s, with the new ones on King George Street and the ones by Somerfield.
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Ensure the existing no parking restrictions are enforced.