Speed limits to be cut on 84 roads across Lancashire

The Lancashire Telegraph can reveal the findings of a two-year study of all of the county’s 130 A and B roads, which recommends new speed limits for 84 stretches.

In East Lancashire, 28 changes will be made on 18 roads, most of which link the area’s towns, over the next two years.

As well as the lower speed limits, the £600,000 project will also see hundreds of new signs put up and new road layouts and markings in the areas affected.

Yesterday the government announced plans to reduce the speed limit on most rural roads from 60 miles per hour to 50 except where councils can prove it is not necessary.

Lancashire County Council’s study, which is independent of the government action, goes much further with stretches of some 60 mile per hour roads being cut to 40.

Other roads are having their speed limit reduced from 50 and 40 miles per hour to just 30.

Lancashire’s raft of meas-ures has been welcomed by MPs and motoring experts who say they will reduce the number of people killed on the county’s rural roads.

But they also warned the tighter limits might confuse some drivers and an oppo-sition politician claimed the changes did not go far enough.

Blackburn with Darwen Council, which controls its own highways, has also been told by the government to review speed limits on its A and B roads by 2012, but engineers there say few will change as most are within urban areas with 30mph limits.

Most of the rural accident “hotspots” are within Lancashire County Council’s boundaries.

The findings, being presented on a district-by-district basis to the Lancashire Local committees, will be debated by councillors in May.

If they get the green light, the changes will be advertised, as required by law, and all will be in place by 2011.

County Coun Matthew Tomlinson, cabinet member for sustainable development, said the changes would ensure consistent limits throughout the county and improve road safety.

He added: “This is a major project and it’s something the government has been pushing for.

“It’s been helpful to sit back and look at all our speed limits to see if they are appropriate.

“It’s going to take us a couple of years to get these changes through because of the amount there are.

“We are looking at roads right across Lancashire”.

Coun Tomlinson said the “vast majority” of new speed limits would be lower than they currently are, with an increase recommended on just three or four stretches, none of which are in East Lancashire.

He said the government plans to reduce the speed limit on rural roads were “nothing to do with” their proposals.

There will be eight changes in Burnley district, including the A679 Burnley Road at Hapton, which will be cut from 60mph to 50mph on one stretch and then 30mph further down the road, and the Shuttleworth Hall link road where a 40mph stretch will be implemented.

In Pendle, the three changes include a 1,000-metre stretch of the A6068 Barrowford Road at Barro-wford which will become 40mph.

Six stretches in Rossendale are set to be altered with the B6257 Blackburn Road near Haslingden to be cut to 40mph from 60mph.

Meanwhile, in Accrington, bosses say it will require a “significant amount of work” to cut the speed limit on the Dunkenhalgh Way dual carriageway from 70mph to 50mph. Four other changes will be made in Hyndburn.

Among six changes proposed for Ribble Valley is the A671 Accrington Road at Whalley, an accident blackspot in recent years, where the limit will be lowered to 60mph.

The most changes will be made in West Lancashire (13), Lancaster (12) and South Ribble (11).

County Hall’s study, carried out by consultants Mouchel, cost £190,000 to compile.

Council bosses said it was done externally because of the “level of resources involved”.

Coun Tomlinson insisted the study was not a “desk-based” exercise.

He said the team surveyed all A and B roads, compiled statistics of accident histories and recorded video footage to monitor traffic levels.

He added: “There are quite a few changes, and you’ve got to remember we’ve got 7,000 miles of roads in the county.

"Most of them tend to be on the frontiers of urban areas and I wasn’t surprised when I saw the list.

“Hopefully it will be clear to drivers. There’s lots of opportunity for local publicity and we will let people know well in advance of the changes.”

Rather than putting up new speed cameras, ‘speed indicator signs’ which flash up a driver’s speed would be widely used, he added.

REACTIONS

• Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA: “I think it’s something that needs to be looked at, because we do have this growing problem of collisions on rural roads. It is founded in absolute logic. The difficulty is how you do it. Too often you hear about cases where young men have died because their car has hit a tree. That’s what they are trying to stop.”

• Allan Whipp, of East Lancashire’s Institute of Advanced Motorists: “On lots of roads where I drive there is a 30mph limit without any visible reason why. I am all for a rethink but there has to be an element of common sense.”

• Paul Biggs, of the Association of British Drivers: “A lot of councils have used this as a speed limit-lowering exercise. The danger is this creates an enforcement burden.”

• Coun David Whipp, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall: “Overall, the review of speed limits needs to be far more extensive than the changes suggested by the experts.”

• Pendle Labour MP Gordon Prentice: “I back this. For the winding country roads of Lancashire the national speed limit is just not appropriate.”

• Spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake: “We urge Lancashire County Council to take action on the roads identified as needing lower speed limits as quickly as possible.”

PROPOSALS FOR BURNLEY

• A646 New Road / Glen View Road / Rossendale Road (Burnley); 1.104 km; now 40; proposed 30; Gateways at either end of section to include signing on yellow backboards, dragons teeth and red paint. Potential carriageway narrowing using ladder markings along length of section
• A646 Rossendale Road / Rosegrove Lane / Liverpool Road / Lowerhouse Lane / Kiddrow Lane (Burnley); 0.810 km; now 40; proposed 30; Gateways at either end of section to include signing on yellow backboards, dragons teeth and red paint. Potential carriageway narrowing using ladder markings along length of section
• A671 Todmorden Road / Yorkshire Street / Centenery Way / Trafalgar Street / Westway / Cavalry Way Padiham Road (Burnley) / Burnley Road / Church Street / Whalley Road (Padiham); 0.740 km; Removal of signs at either end of the 40mph section and any repeater signs. Potential to use interactive warning signs to highlight the 30mph
• A679 Burnley Road (Hapton); 0.588; now 40; proposed 30; Gateways at either end of sections. Increased signing at the western section. Carriageway roundels and signing on yellow backboards. Remove any repeater signs
• A679 Burnley Road (Hapton) 0.735 km; now 60; proposed 50; Provide new 50mph terminal and new repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit
• A679 Burnley Road / Link Road (M65 Jct 9 slip road onto Burnley Road) (Hapton) / Accrington Road (Hapton & Burnley); 1.315 km; now 60; proposed 40; New 40mph terminal and repeater signs at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit and carriageway roundels. Change to the carriageway centre line markings
• A6068 Shuttleworth Hall Link Road / Barrowford Road (Padiham) 0.391 km; now 60; proposed 40; New 40mph terminal and repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit. The presence of a signal junction should reduce traffic speeds significantly. Change to the carriageway centre line markings
• A6068 Barrowford Road (Padiham / Higham / Fence) 0.490 km; now 60; proposed 50; New 50mph terminal and repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit

PROPOSALS FOR HYNDBURN

• A6185 Dunkenhalgh Way (Clayton-le-Moors) 0.820 km; now 70; proposed 50; Due to this section being a dual carriageway it will require a significant amount of traffic management works to reduce the current traffic speeds to 50mph or below. Provide new terminal and repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit
• A678 Blackburn Road (Rishton) 0.560 km; now 50; proposed 40; Replace existing terminal signs and install new repeaters at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit
• A679 Blackburn Road (Oswaldtwistle) 0.520 km: now 50; proposed 40; Replace existing terminal signs and install new repeaters at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit
• A679 Burnley Road (Accrington) 0.260 km; now 60; proposed 40; Replace existing terminal signs and install new repeaters at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit. Change to the carriageway centre line markings
• B6231 School Lane and Lottice Lane (Oswaldtwistle) 1.100 km; now 60; proposed 40; Replace existing terminal signs and install new repeaters at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit. Change to the carriageway centre line markings
• A680 Manchester Road / Blackburn Road (Haslingden) / Blackburn Road / Manchester Road / Abbey Street / Eastgate / Whalley Road (Accrington) / Whalley Road (Altham, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood); 0.890 km; now 40; proposed 30; Remove terminal signs at both ends and any repeater signs that may be present. Further investigation required to explore the possibility of reviewing signing and lining along this section due to the high accident rate. Need to amend a significant number of side road signs

PROPOSALS FOR PENDLE

• A6068 Barrowford Road (Barrowford) 1.076 km; now 50; proposed 40; Replace existing terminal signs and new repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit
• B6251 High Lane (Foulridge, Barnoldswick); 2 km; now 60; proposed 50; Replace existing terminal signs and install new repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit. Increased warning of bends and carriageway narrowing

PROPOSALS FOR ROSSENDALE

• A680 Rochdale Road (Ramsbottom); 1.590 km; now 60; proposed 50; Remove terminal signs at southern end of section and replace any NSL repeaters with 50mph repeaters. Replace terminal signs at northern end of section
• A680 Manchester Road / Blackburn Road (Haslingden) / Blackburn Road / Manchester Road / Abbey Street / Eastgate / Whalley Road (Accrington) / Whalley Road (Altham, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood); 0.890 km; now 40; proposed 30; Remove terminal signs at both ends and any repeater signs that may be present. Further investigation required to explore the possibility of reviewing signing and lining along this section due to the high accident rate. Need to amend a significant number of side road signs
• A681 Bocholt Way / Bacup Road (Rawtenstall) / New Church Road (Stacksteads, Bacup), Market Street, Yorkshire Street, Todmorden Road (Bacup); 0.510 km; now 40; proposed 30; Remove terminal signs (40mph) at eastern end and provide new terminal signs (30mph) at the western end of the section. Remove any repeaters along the section
• A682 Rawtenstall Spur (Rawtenstall); 1.172 km; now 70; proposed 50; Provide terminal signs and new repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit
• A682 Rawtenstall Spur (Rawtenstall); 0.572 km; now 70; proposed 40; Provide terminal signs at both ends and provide new repeater signs as appropriate. Change to the carriageway centre line markings
• B6527 Blackburn Road (Rawtenstall) / Manchester Road (Haslingden); 1.995 km; now 60; proposed 40; Provide gateway treatment at each end of the section including terminal signs and carriageway roundels on red thermoplastic surfacing. Along the section improve lining and signing and replace speed limit repeater signs as appropriate. Also provide interactive warning signs along the section. Change to the carriageway centre line markings

PROPOSALS FOR RIBBLE VALLEY

• A59 Mellor Brook Bypass (Osbaldston) / Longsight Road (Clayton-le-Dale); 1.048 km; now 40; proposed 30; New gateway treatment to both ends of section to include terminal signs on yellow backboards, carriageway roundels, red thermoplastic paint, dragons teeth.
• A671 Accrington Road (Whalley); 0.508km; now 70; proposed 60; Provide a terminal sign at both ends of section and install new repeaters along section with 60mph repeaters as required.
• B6243 Preston Road (Longridge); 0.5 km; now 50; proposed 30; Provide terminal signs and remove any 50mph repeater signs. Provide gateway treatment to include red thermoplastic surfacing and carriageway roundels to highlight the reduction in limit and reduce driver speeds. Change to the carriageway centre line markings.
• B6243 Preston Road (Longridge); 1.168 km; now 50; proposed 40; Provide terminal signs at both ends and provide new repeater signs located at the appropriate spacing for the new speed limit.
• B6243 Lower Road (Longridge) / Clitheroe Road (Ribchester); 0.48 km; now 60; proposed 30; Remove terminal signs from western end of section and remove any repeaters along section length. Provide gateway treatment to eastern end of section to include terminal signs on yellow backboards, carriageway roundels, red thermoplastic paint, dragons teeth. Change to the carriageway centre line markings
• B6245 Preston Road / Fleet Street Lane (Ribchester) / Preston Road (Longridge); 1.516 km; now 60; proposed 40; Provide terminal signs at both ends of section along with bar markings in red thermoplastic surface treatment and provide new repeater signs along the length as appropriate. Change to the carriageway centre line markings.

These details refer to only specific stretches of the road and not the entire length.