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Northern Ireland Planning Service

Northern Area Plan 2016
Coleraine Borough: Coleraine Transportation

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Introduction

Coleraine is located at the intersection of a number of strategic and other routes, and is the largest urban centre in the Plan area. Consequently, the road system carries a high proportion of through traffic in addition to that generated within the town and surrounding area. Coleraine Ring Road, constructed in the 1970’s, carries a significant proportion of through traffic, as well as acting as a local distributor road around the town centre.
In the town centre an extensive area has been designated as a Pedestrian Zone, effectively removing a number of streets from the traffic network although still allowing for the servicing of retail and commercial premises within the zone. A one-way system was introduced to manage the movement of traffic away from and around the pedestrian zone, and apart from traffic management alterations at some key junctions; this has remained largely unchanged for many years. As a result, many streets such as Circular Road, Millburn Road, Union Street, Railway Road, Lodge Road, Long Commons, and Hanover Place carry large volumes of traffic.
There are a number of locations around the town where there is congestion and conflict with traffic, cyclists and pedestrians particularly at peak periods.
To the west of the river, Strand Road, Castlerock Road, and Killowen Street converge on the Bann Bridge through Waterside, where onstreet parking, a degree of illegal and double parking, and the problems for service and delivery vehicles all affect the movement of traffic through this key series of junctions. This frequently affects traffic circulation on adjacent parts of the network, with queues forming not only along Strand Road, Castlerock Road, and Killowen Street, but also across the town bridge and along Hanover Place as far as Beresford Road and Beresford Place.
A micro-simulation model (known as VISSIM) was used to test a number of possible changes to the one-way system, which might help to ease this congestion. As a result the following changes are proposed, subject to further detailed study:

  1. Lodge Road – Railway Road: - 2-Way Traffic


    Permitting 2-way traffic on Lodge Road and Railway Road from Nursery Avenue to Union Street / Bushmills Road, would allow quicker access to the parking facilities on Railway Road from the east and south of the town. This would appear to have limited impact on the main circulatory system. However, there would be implications for the current parking and servicing arrangements on Lodge Road and Railway Road, and these would be examined as part of the detailed investigations. Any proposal would also be subject to the normal statutory processes, including public consultation.

  2. Waterside Gyratory


    This series of junctions has been demonstrated to be a critical part of the network, and improvements could be obtained by changes to traffic flow on Strand Road and Waterside. It is proposed to allow 2-way traffic on Strand Road to the town bridge, and on Waterside between the bridge and Castlerock Road. The VISSIM model demonstrates that this could bring significant benefits to traffic flow on all approaches, including along Hanover Place. This helps to alleviate the situation at Blindgate Street and Beresford Avenue/Beresford Place. However, there would be implications for the current parking and servicing arrangements on Waterside, which would be examined as part of the detailed investigations. Any proposal would also be subject to the normal statutory processes, which would include public consultation.

  3. Town Bridge


    Complementary to the proposal for Waterside, the introduction of an additional traffic lane westwards towards Waterside would bring significant additional improvements to traffic flow through the gyratory and also to flow along Hanover Place and Blindgate Street. This could involve all pedestrian movements being directed across the Millennium Foot/cycle bridge. This proposal will be subject to more detailed investigation, including structural analysis.
With the exception of the above measures, no significant new provision is likely to be required within the plan period in Coleraine town centre. Other traffic management measures such as the refinement of junction layouts, changes to and stricter enforcement of waiting restrictions, the optimisation of signal timings and alterations to directions of flow may be required to maintain network efficiency as traffic patterns change and as development land is taken up through the plan period.
Plan Policies and proposals affecting the development of transportation in Coleraine are set out in Part 2 of this Plan and are shown on Map No. 3/01 a.
The key components of the transportation strategy for Coleraine and the wider district are:
  • Coleraine Ring Road, in particular the section between Greenmount Roundabout and Ballycastle Road Roundabout. The strategic importance of the Ring Road to Coleraine and the wider area is reflected in its high traffic flows. The operation of the entire Ring Road is key to maintaining service levels for strategic movement and access into and out of Coleraine. It contains a number of critical junctions, which will need improvement during the period of the Plan.
  • Lodge Road Roundabout, located where the A26 and A29 converge at the key junction on the network. The junction is anticipated to see a significant increase in the already high flows and, should this occur, will require a significant intervention towards the end of the Plan period to maintain efficient operation. Analysis has shown that grade separation of the traffic moving through the junction on the A29 axis would provide significant benefits in terms of improving capacity and maintaining turning provision.
  • A29 Ring Road between Lodge Road and Ballycastle Road roundabouts. The introduction of grade separation at Lodge Road could also be linked to widening of this section of the Ring Road towards the end of the Plan period, to provide additional capacity in the peak hour. Such a high flow cannot be accommodated by the existing arrangement, clearly indicating a need for four traffic lanes on this section of the Ring Road. The treatment of junctions along this stretch at Safeway and Newmills Road will need careful consideration.
  • Strand Road Roundabout. To help cater for the large volume from the direction of the Lodge Road Roundabout this roundabout will be improved by the provision of additional leftturning capacity from Sandelford Bridge to Castleroe Road. The general geometry of the roundabout and its approaches will be examined to determine what other alterations could safely increase traffic flow through the roundabout.
During the Plan period, a number of Local Transport and Safety Schemes will be identified for implementation within the Coleraine area, which is identified within the “Other Urban Area” category in the Sub-Regional Transport Plan. These schemes, which will be in line with the Regional Transportation Strategy, will further enhance the area through better management of traffic, traffic calming measures, collision reduction schemes, provision of facilities for the disabled, and for improvements to the road, cycle, and footway networks. Implementation of identified schemes will be subject to the availability of resources within the Sub-Regional Transport Plan.
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