Work on turning Lune Street two-way is running behind schedule meaning there’s a delay on when the bus lane cameras in Fishergate will trigger a fine for motorists.
AdvertisementLancashire County Council has confirmed the controversial bus lane cameras running from Mount Street to Corporation Street return to use on Monday (6 November) as planned.
It had planned to introduce the two-way Lune Street and new Ringway junction this week – ahead of the switch-on.
Now the earliest Lune Street will be ready is Monday 13 November.
The county council says anyone using the Fishergate bus lane between 11am and 6pm on Monday 6 November will receive a warning letter.
A ‘grace period’ is to run until the Lune Street Link Road is complete and no motorists will be fined until the penalty charge notices start landing on doormats – but not set date has been given for this.
The county council is putting in four large new signs in Fishergate as well as Fox Street, Lune Street and Chapel Street to inform drivers about the bus lane being in operation.
Six appeals against the county council’s bus lane fines were upheld by an independent inspector last year after the signage was judged as ‘inadequate’ for the city centre road layout.
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Cabinet member for highways and transport county councillor Keith Iddon said: “We’ll be switching the cameras back on along Fishergate from Monday, and we’ve been carrying out advertising on radio and social media, as well as other promotion to make people more aware of the bus lane.
“There has been a significant increase in the number of drivers ignoring these restrictions since we suspended the camera enforcement, which shows that we need additional measures in place.
“These bus lanes have removed an average of 2,700 vehicles every day from the section between Mount Street and Corporation Street. We know that bus journeys have become more reliable and journey times have reduced.
“However we also know that people using the shopping centre car park and through Avenham were particularly affected. The Lune Street changes should help to resolve some of the issues that we identified during the trial period and improve the overall experience in the city centre for drivers and pedestrians.”
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The Lune Street link work continues and is due to run for six months as an ‘experimental measure’ to see whether it helps improve traffic getting out of the St George’s Shopping centre park.
What do you think about the Fishergate bus lane? And Lune Street? Let us know in the comments below