From: Illingworth John
Sent: 21 January 2010 11:01
To: Rogerson Paul
Cc: Marrington Peter; Bartlett Gary; Kieran Preston; Bob Collins; bennh@parliament.uk; Battle MP John; david.marsh@ypn.co.uk
Subject: Request for Scrutiny A65 QBI

Dear Paul (bcc councillors)

I am writing further to the exchanges in the Council meeting yesterday afternoon about the A65 Quality Bus Scheme. This boat has got a hole in it, and it would be in the public interest for this defect to be disclosed.

I strongly support bus priority schemes, and hope to see many more, but there is a fundamental problem with the A65 QBI because the present proposals are badly designed and unlikely to work as intended. They will probably result in rat-running and make things worse for the electors than I represent. I have been pointing this out for several years, but every time that I do so, people avoid the central issue, and sometimes resort to personal attacks.

I have attached a plan "A65QBI.gif" which officers and members can double click to open on their Council computers. It is intended to print at A3 size, but it should be reasonably clear at A4. The following account has been slightly simplified in the interests of clarity.

(See attached file: A65QBI.gif)

The original scheme proposed in 1992 envisaged a fully segregated bus priority scheme, largely on the south western side of the existing road, but crossing over at the Kirkstall viaduct to follow the north east side outside ARLA foods. It is marked in purple on the map. This is a good scheme, underpinned by an improvement line, and I have always supported it strongly. The reason for the alignment is that it can be easily signalised and it largely avoids cutting across existing minor junctions. Please note the relationship to the River Aire.

Subsequently this excellent scheme was modified, without any effective public or councillor consultation, to delete the bus lanes between the points B and C on the map, which is the most congested section of the route. The revised scheme is no longer effectively segregated from the general traffic. Around this time, the Council very foolishly abandoned the A65 improvement line, for no good reason that has ever been disclosed.

In order to make this cut down scheme operate, the engineers proposed bus gates and queue relocation systems near the points B and C on the map. I have repeatedly asked to see the full timing diagrams for the various traffic signals, but this essential information has never been released by the Council.

I have built my own models using the TRANSYT computer program for the junctions A and C both of which predict severe congestion at peak times and long traffic queues in all directions. In order to make this a fair test it is also necessary to include some neighbouring junctions, more or less indicated by the green circles on the map. It is also standard practice to include all reasonably anticipated developments in these models, which in this case includes the redevelopment of the Kirkstall Forge, BHS, Tesco and ARLA Foods / Yorkshire Chemicals sites.

I have repeatedly challenged the Council as the promoter of the A65 scheme to publish its own computer models of these junctions with all the reasonably anticipated development in place. The Council has consistently failed to do this, and I have concluded that the Council's engineers cannot make them work either. Instead the Council has released various incomplete and partial models which do not provide a proper test. I would support the present scheme if it could be shown to work.

I repeat my challenge to the Council. I presently do not believe that the Council's contractor can make these junctions "work". We will have to spend additional money in the future, "bodging" this scheme to make it function, but it is unlikely to be as good as the original 1992 plans. Please will you take this message as a formal request for a Scrutiny Inquiry into the traffic signal timings and anticipated queue lengths for the A65 Quality Bus Proposals. Officers and members will realise that I could be demolished in an instant if the Council published a working model, with all the reasonably anticipated developments in place. Please will Paul Rogerson, Kieran Preston and Bob Collins also take this message as a formal request for the publication of the traffic signal timings, vehicle flows and road capacities that were used to design the A65 Quality Bus Scheme, under the Freedom of Information Act.

John Illingworth