In the beginning, there were only horse-drawn carriages and putting one foot in front of the other. Then, there were cars; huge hunks of metal which could go ten times as fast as any horse without breaking a leg. But the golden age of the automobile could only last so long, and soon cars in our cities could soon be a thing of the past.
Much of Bristol’s centre is already pedestrianised, but, according to the city’s council, it is not enough. A consultation was recently put out asking locals their thoughts on restricting car access in more streets in order to make cycling more appealing and improve bus routes.
The Horsefair and Union Street would both be closed to cars and taxis under new proposals, which Adam Crowther, head of city transport, described to the BBC as ‘pretty transformative for the whole walking, cycling and bus network.’ The Horsefair would be wholly pedestrianised, meaning buses would also be prevented from travelling through it.
Councillor Ed Plowden, who has been a huge proponent for the works, said that ‘by investing to make bus travel quicker and more reliable, and active travel safer and easier, we can help decarbonise our transport network,’ which he argues will [help] people to travel more actively while cutting congestion and pollution on our roads.
This is part of a wider scheme to improve Broadmead, Bristol’s retail centre. The Galleries and old Debenhams buildings are set to be torn down and replaced by flats, so there’s going to be a lot of work going on down there in the near future.
If driving down Union Street is one of your greatest loves, don’t worry just yet. The plans are still in the consultation phase, so you can have your say via online survey or drop in session; find out more about how to do that here.
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