Newcastle

Included in the Cycling City Ambition Fund is up to £350,000 to spend transforming Acorn Road into a cycle-friendly shopping area. This would mean making changes to the road layout to reduce traffic and improving the environment for people walking or cycling there. We have two illustrations that we need your views on. Illustration 1 shows Acorn Road as a one-way street with widened pavements and safer crossings. Illustration 2 shows the current two-way system, with improved crossing to increase safety.

We would like your views on the illustrations, to tell us which would work best in Acorn Road. 

Here we can see Acorn Road as a one-way street, with a raised central area which means the footpaths and the roads are level – making it easier for cyclists, pedestrians, wheel chair users and parents/carers with pushchairs to get around. A 20mph speed limit would be introduced, slowing down traffic in this area, making it more appealing for cyclists. A one-way street means we can widen the pavements – allowing more public seating areas, space for pavement cafes and make the area more attractive with landscaping. With reduced vehicles numbers, less vehicle pollution and the public space enhancements, this would create an area for shoppers, visitors, residents and cyclists to all enjoy. Car parking will be reduced by 10 spaces, and there will be no vehicle access from west to east of the road (St Georges Terrace to Osborne Road), but cyclists would eb able to travel in both directions.

Keeps the current two-way system with raised crossing at junctions and side roads.

Here we can see Acorn Road with the current two-way system. This illustration shows improved safety measure in place, such as the raised junctions which means the crossings are level with the footpath, making it easier for pedestrians, wheel chair users and parents/carers with pushchairs to get around. We would also reduce the speed on this road to 20mph, making it a safer choice for cyclists. With the two-way system, the numbers of vehicles using the road will stay the same and you will still have the same vehicle access. These improvements mean car parking will be reduced by 8 spaces.

We will also make improvements to the shopping area at Osborne Road/St George’s Terrace. This will help expand the benefits of Acorn Road’s improvements by linking both shopping areas together. At St George’s Terrace we will install a raised junction – making the footpaths level with the crossing – so it is easier for wheel chair users and parents/carers with pushchairs to get around. This is in addition to the improvements illustrated for Acorn Road.

Our Let’s Talk gazebo will be on the corner of Larkspur Street and Acorn Road (next to Jesmond notice board where Coral betting shop is) on:

Tuesday 9 September 2014 8am to 12pm

Need further information?
More detailed information please call our transport development team.

What happens next?
These plans are proposals only. The final plan depends on what you tell us. When this consultation closes, we’ll do a full review of all the comments and proceed with the statutory consultation.