Banning or trying to tax vehicles off the road is no option. Restricting motorists or vehicles in an area where there are few alternatives for residents or deliveries cannot work. With a mainly single carriage road leading to a residential area of some 150,000 residents (which in high season can double) is virtually unique anywhere in the U.K.

Torbay is a virtual cul-de-sac and virtually everyone that comes into Torbay must return the same way to get out. This creates enormous congestion on the four mile stretch of the A380 Newton Road, in most daylight hours. To avoid what will ultimately become a grid-lock, which would be unacceptable to everyone, a wider or new road is the only realistic answer.

Past Changes

A variety of palliatives have been implemented to ease the on-going problem of increased traffic flow over the years which have included; lane changes, priority areas for turning points, yellow painted no-go boxes, little used cycle lanes, traffic calming measurers, pedestrian islands, new traffic lights, pelican crossings and widening on the so called "rat-runs".

Some of these changes have been directed to satisfy a Statutory requirement. Some have helped pedestrians wishing to cross the ever busy Newton Road , but all have ultimately slowed the flow of traffic thereby increasing the number of bottlenecks that this brings.

The pressure of increased number of vehicles, the peoples wish to travel by road to work and the day to day lifestyle of both young and old will ensure a bypass will have to be built, the only question is when.

Future Changes

The FSB and the A380-Kingskerswell Bypass Campaign Committee have regularly made suggestions to ease the current, often unacceptable delays which include:

Raising the road

In order that pedestrians in Kingskerswell can have a wider and easier access by walking below the A380 at ground level. Raising the existing road might also remove the need for a crossing and traffic lights at the centre of the village. Bournemouth has created this facility at the centre of the seafront, and the marvellous open space/concourse which assists everyone - cyclists, the disabled in wheelchairs and mothers with prams etc. The natural lie of the landscape at Kingskerswell means the change would only arbitrarily affect residential properties in that area.

Flyover at Penn Inn

A single carriage flyover at Penn Inn to take traffic travelling North over the traffic island directly onto the A380 travelling to Exeter would immediately take one line of traffic away from the bottleneck at the Torquay side of the traffic island. Traffic requiring access to Newton Abbot might then be filtered, resulting in one traffic light point being removed, leaving just three access points around the island.

The rat-runs

The so-called rat-runs (back roads to and from Torquay) are unsuitable for permanent upgrading to a secondary main road. Nevertheless in the short term there are a variety of ways in which these might be used as an alternative to the A380 until such time as a bypass is constructed. Such improvements to be undertaken in consultation with the local residential population in the knowledge that they are NOT permanent measures and that traffic calming or whatever would be put in place when the bypass was opened.

Commercial use

Undoubtedly increased numbers of commercial vehicles are a problem. More public buses only add to this congestion. Management systems could assist and pick up points, unloading times, off peak use, night hours or early morning deliveries might also assist. The creation of special traffic lanes, out of town warehousing and smaller minibuses to pick up points of coaches and buses on town boundaries might be a possibility. Failure to do nothing about large vehicles will bring chaos.

Opening times

Office, retail and school opening times. It makes little sense that major stores, offices and schools all open at approximately the same time due to an arbitrary historic start time being adhered to. All start times could be more flexible and some businesses could even find it makes commercial sense to operate a flexible opening and closing time where employees arrive and leave involving them in less travel stress.

The Visitors

The lifeblood of the Torbay economy is visitors, and anything that can be achieved to make their arrival and travel in the area more pleasant and their departure at the end of their stay easier should be investigated. Why not involve local schools in carrying out a young persons view of what should be done bearing in mind the personal, safe, flexible and convenient vehicle is certainly here to stay in the foreseeable future. Perhaps our technological age will devise a 'beam me up scotty' scenario but until then the road vehicle for most travellers will remain king.

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