moyceyyy wrote:
Not having a grade separated Eastern Link would be monumentally stupid, though. Cardiff Council have an opportunity to build a motorway standard ring road, but they decide on roundabouts.. Not many cities in the UK have a completely grade separated ring road.. In fact he only ones I can think of are London, Manchester and Coventry. (if you could even call Coventry's one a Ring Road, due to it being so close to the city centre) It would be fantastic for Cardiff. But you never know, not splaying the carriageways is not enough evidence in my opinion.
Unless they grade separate it from Ocean way onwards (and have a non grade separated road from Ocean way to Queensgate).... Because if you think about it, not many people will be driving past the Bay to get to the other side of the city! It would save lots of £!
I wouldn't say "monumentally stupid" as it will cost more to make it fully grade-separated and there other transport "opportunities" vying for funding - the M4 relief road, Metro etc. The existing A4232 isn't really "motorway standard" either.
Actually, I think a lot of traffic does pass through the bay - not much actually exits via Pierhead Street or Hemingway Road - so I'm more disappointed that they don't seem to have allowed enough space for the eastern ramp of a future Queensgate Flyover. I would have understood if they deferred building the bridges but not to allow for it in the design seems extremely short sighted. However, I could live with a duelled Rover Way with a single at-grade junction between Ocean Way and Lamby Way - it wont be "fantastic" but would be an improvement on what we've currently got.
I think we've got to accept that the policy objective isn't really to provide a fast and convenient route into or out of the city/bay - its simply to keep the traffic moving and away from the city centre. Completion of the PDR has long been a pre-requisite for possible congestion charging or other changes to make road travel less attractive than other modes in the city centre.