20th January 2010
Over the last year, Forum has made repeated requests to the Council to have a co-ordinated review of traffic lights through the entire length of Castle Lane. On 8th January 2010, our Chairman received the following e-mail from Technical Services:-
8th January 2010
Dear Mr Deller
The review of the traffic signals at the junction of Muscliffe Lane and Castle Lane West (CLW) is being undertaken over the next couple of weeks.
To maintain the through traffic on CLW the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) priority will be to keep this traffic moving and restrict the volume of traffic exiting from Muscliffe Lane especially during the peak periods.
Having carried out some preliminary work on site I have noted that occasionally traffic is unable to clear from Muscliffe Lane due to traffic on CLW unable to clear further down CLW and therefore queues back from the Wimborne Road junction.
I shall be investigating why this is happening and make any adjustments necessary to the clearance stage.
The results of this and any alterations recommended will be made available to you at the end of this month in time for your meeting in February.
With regards to Castlepoint this traffic signal network will have a full review hopefully starting in April.
These traffic signal junctions all operate under Bournemouth’s UTC system during the day and under Cableless Linking Facility (CLF) overnight. This means they are not activated by vehicles in the same way as normal vehicle actuation (VA) due to the nature of the small signalised roundabouts within the network.
During the peak times drivers will not notice this fact as much as overnight when traffic is light. Due to the CLF linking of the signals there will always be times when a vehicle may be stopped due to influences either at another junction or one of the toucan crossings.
During the review I shall be looking closely at the control method of the signals and the safety restrictions that have been operating.
Once this work is complete I shall let you know my recommendations including any signal alterations that may be implemented on site before any final decisions are made.
Kind Regards,
Michelle Fillingham
Project Engineer - Technical Services