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Work to start on city's ninth bus lane

Google Part of the route where a city-bound bus lane has been approved showing a wide road with double yellow lines outside a supermarket which is opposite a large red brick mill with lots of windows. A small white car is driving down the road to the right hand side of the imageGoogle
The bus lane is to be introduced on the city-bound side of New Hall Lane

Work on controversial plans for a new bus lane on one of the busiest roads in Preston is set to begin.

The lane is to be introduced on the city-bound side of New Hall Lane from just after Fishwick Road through to Witton Street.

Once up and running, it will become the ninth bus-only restriction in Preston. 

Just like its counterparts, the new zone will be monitored by cameras to capture any unauthorised vehicles straying into it – a breach that will result in drivers being issued with fines in the post.

Street scene in Preston showing red brick buildings either side of a road. The road says 'bus gate' in white on a red background on the left hand side, with a picture of a bicycle on the other. A black cab is driving into the distance and a group of people are walking on the far side of the street
A bus gate on Corporation Street in Preston opened in the spring

Cyclists will be permitted to use the lane and no road closures will be required during the work.

Lancashire County Council is pressing ahead with the change - which was approved by cabinet members in May - despite hundreds of people signing a petition objecting to it.

However, a formal public consultation had previously attracted just three responses.

The installation of the new bus lane - along a 450-yard stretch of New Hall Lane - will see the remaining space for other westbound traffic reduced, but highways bosses insisted there was enough room.

A second phase of the £100,000 project - to be funded by County Hall's government-funded Bus Service Improvement Plan - will involve the remodelling of the New Hall Lane junction with the A6 London Road in order to boost capacity. 

Work on those changes, which include the installation of new traffic lights, will begin on a date yet to be decided.

County councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, said the new bus lane would "allow public transport to move more seamlessly through the junction, allowing buses to bypass congestion and cut journey times".

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