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Question..Does stafford have a ringroad?
- Thread starter Miss Red
- Start date
Gramaisc
Forum O. G.
Little Haywood has one.
There are, arguably, two partial ring-roads in Stafford. Junction 14-Redhill-Beaconside to the Weston Road Roundabout by the University/Fire Station. And Queensway - Gaol Square to the Island Vets roundabout at the end of Wolverhampton Road - via Lammascote roundabout.
There are, arguably, two partial ring-roads in Stafford. Junction 14-Redhill-Beaconside to the Weston Road Roundabout by the University/Fire Station. And Queensway - Gaol Square to the Island Vets roundabout at the end of Wolverhampton Road - via Lammascote roundabout.
Miss Red
Well-Known Forumite
I was told by someone that queesnsway is a ringroad, but a ringroad usualyl allows one to pass around a town from one end to another without going "through" the town. The queesnsway sort of does, but it only runs from one island to another and puts you pretty much in town (whichever end you end up at)
Its confusing, i didnt think about it until someone mentioned it to me at the weekend!
Its confusing, i didnt think about it until someone mentioned it to me at the weekend!
gilbert grape
Well-Known Forumite
If a ring road takes traffic away from a town centre and gives you an alternative route, the roads through the town centre are now nearly all impassable so the definition has obviously changed over the years. When the new shops etc are built it will surely become and "inner link road" rather than a main route through the town.
The answer is no. It has the beginnings of a ringroad (Beaconside). I would consider it would need to be extended to link up to J13 to form a real ringroad. I think that would benefit the town enormously & facilitate its expansion (the council/government has decided Stafford needs to expand substantially, whether we agree or not).
However, there are many people on here that would disagree with me & think that the current solution of using a random network of narrow residential roads to try & navigate from one end of town to the other (through 20 million sets of traffic lights) is far better than having an evil modern ringroad with all the free-flowing ease of travel it would bring. In fact they would probably rather Queensway was never built, it makes travel from Gaol Square to Lammascote Island far too easy, encouraging wasteful car journeys as we drive up & down it needlessly just for fun all day when we could be sat at home weaving on a loom by candlelight waiting for dad to get home from the Stafford saltmines. They would tell you it has increased the volume of traffic & it was better when you had to drive up Greengate Street to get anywhere.
Anyway, I think the completion of the ringroad is what Stafford is absolutely crying out for. Just my opinion. :-D
However, there are many people on here that would disagree with me & think that the current solution of using a random network of narrow residential roads to try & navigate from one end of town to the other (through 20 million sets of traffic lights) is far better than having an evil modern ringroad with all the free-flowing ease of travel it would bring. In fact they would probably rather Queensway was never built, it makes travel from Gaol Square to Lammascote Island far too easy, encouraging wasteful car journeys as we drive up & down it needlessly just for fun all day when we could be sat at home weaving on a loom by candlelight waiting for dad to get home from the Stafford saltmines. They would tell you it has increased the volume of traffic & it was better when you had to drive up Greengate Street to get anywhere.
Anyway, I think the completion of the ringroad is what Stafford is absolutely crying out for. Just my opinion. :-D
Neon Jay
Are we there yet?
Am I not right in saying that the council, of all people, made a slight cockup with the budget and ran out of money for the Beaconside road? Hence why it stops by our house (kingston hill) by the fire station? (for those not from this end, if you carry on over past the new fire station, the road simply ends abruptly with a fence and field)
The other rumour I heard was that the NIMBY crew got into full swing and VETO'd the bypass, thereby condemning Stafford to utter hell between 8am - 10am. You can forget trying to get into town at that time, it's usually quicker to walk. The traffic's very often spilled out from the top of the Weston road and backed up right the way around to the RAF / MOD base... now, surely the government already creams enough off our fuel tax without needing to force us to burn far more of the already criminally priced fuel than required anyway? And I'm pretty sure the old emissions aren't exactly helped, if you follow that line of thought...?
One final thought - it's perfectly fine to tear up castletown for an utter waste of a through road, but we can't rectify a pretty evident problem by finishing the job we started in the first place, PROPERLY?
I need a ciggie after that...
The other rumour I heard was that the NIMBY crew got into full swing and VETO'd the bypass, thereby condemning Stafford to utter hell between 8am - 10am. You can forget trying to get into town at that time, it's usually quicker to walk. The traffic's very often spilled out from the top of the Weston road and backed up right the way around to the RAF / MOD base... now, surely the government already creams enough off our fuel tax without needing to force us to burn far more of the already criminally priced fuel than required anyway? And I'm pretty sure the old emissions aren't exactly helped, if you follow that line of thought...?
One final thought - it's perfectly fine to tear up castletown for an utter waste of a through road, but we can't rectify a pretty evident problem by finishing the job we started in the first place, PROPERLY?
I need a ciggie after that...
The new Stafford Plan 2011 makes for interesting reading:
http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/live/Documents/Forward%20Planning/LDF/Draft%20Publication/Draft-Publication-Colour-version.pdf
Page 50 (actually page 54 of the pdf) seems to suggest that by 2031 the next phase of the Eastern Access will be delivered, linking Beaconside to St Thomas' Lane (at the end of Tixall Road). So maybe by 2100 we will have the full ringroad after all! Hurrah!
http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/live/Documents/Forward%20Planning/LDF/Draft%20Publication/Draft-Publication-Colour-version.pdf
Page 50 (actually page 54 of the pdf) seems to suggest that by 2031 the next phase of the Eastern Access will be delivered, linking Beaconside to St Thomas' Lane (at the end of Tixall Road). So maybe by 2100 we will have the full ringroad after all! Hurrah!
henryscat
Well-Known Forumite
Birmingham completed its inner ring road, it throttled the City Centre, and now half of it has been flattened with the Bull Ring redvelopment. The demolition of Masshouse Circus and St Martins Circus has improved the City Centre immeasurably, and made it far nicer to walk around. Making car king at the expense of everything else is a mistake, and it ruins the urban environment. Birmingham is a good example.Toble said:
Neon Jay
Are we there yet?
I'd say you've probably not seen the Weston Rd then... which, especially during term time, spills over along the Beaconside road. It's pretty evident, certainly from living here, that Stafford does indeed need a circular (like the originally planned one which never got finished). Stafford portrays itself as being in a good location for business, which it most certainly is, however judging by the number of empty shops around, I'd say that something is most definitely putting people off. The road system isn't the only cause of this issue, but it's certainly not going to help the economy if peoples journey times are doubled because of poor transport routes.
And walking isn't an option when you've got a load of tools for your trade in the back of your car / van / truck etc.
Also makes me wonder how much extra response time it adds on to the journey of fire trucks and ambulances too - both within about 1/2 mile of each other, pretty much on the same road.
And as for the cash-flow problem, well, if we didn't spend so much pointless cash burning electricity in the how-ever-many thousand traffic lights we have around the town, then we might have some spare cash for decent projects.
And didn't the CC just have a load of really expensive new offices built?
And walking isn't an option when you've got a load of tools for your trade in the back of your car / van / truck etc.
Also makes me wonder how much extra response time it adds on to the journey of fire trucks and ambulances too - both within about 1/2 mile of each other, pretty much on the same road.
And as for the cash-flow problem, well, if we didn't spend so much pointless cash burning electricity in the how-ever-many thousand traffic lights we have around the town, then we might have some spare cash for decent projects.
And didn't the CC just have a load of really expensive new offices built?