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Local Issues

Breck Hill Road – What To Do With This Junction

Is it time to put the pedestrian before the motorist on Mapperley Top? If the experience of people crossing Breck Hill Road is anything to go by, the anser is ‘Yes’

Mapperley’s Controversial Junction

With petrol cars due to be phased out in the next ten years, there will be a huge cultural change in how we move around. There will be more electric vehicles and the return of the tram to the area at some point.

Should highways management be planning for this and start to put the pedestrian first in our high streets?

For instance, Could the junction of Breck Hill and Plains Road be closed off completely?

Should Mapperley Top be made safer and more enjoyable for the shoppers and families that use it every day? Is the debate about this junction missing the point?

The Breckhill Road junction is the most contentious road junction in the area. Our councillors seem to repeat their support for public surveys and petitions. They will use a photo opportunity to show that they care about these issues, and yet nothing seems to be done. This was recently evident in Nottingham Post article, but has anything changed since the issue was previously looked into?

The Breck Hill junction was considered by Nottinghamshire County Council in the last couple of years. They reported that the Breck Hill Road and also Plains Road (which is still designated as a B road) are too narrow to be altered, whilst still allowing the traffic to flow. The report considered options including a pedestrian refuge and a formal crossing.

This decision suggests that the cars and lorries using Mapperley Top are more important than the pedestrians. That raises a question.

Do the vehicles using the junction actually benefit the businesses or the people using Mapperley Top?

It may be that most of the vehicles are actually negotiating Mapperley Top in order to get between Arnold and Carlton. Maybe they should be encouraged to use the Woodthorpe Drive and Gedling Road/Arnold Lane junctions?

Mapperley Top is effectively a local supermarket for many of us. Many local residents walk to the shops and eateries. Those that drive can use a number of car-parks on either side of Plains Road.

Mapperley People recently ran a survey on its Twitter account. The survey asked what people would like to see happen at the junction, using 3 options. The preference in order were:

  1. – Traffic Lights   
  2. – Pedestrian Crossing   
  3. – Close the Junction  

With traffic-lights and a pedestrian crossing seemingly not viable, closing the junction may have received an even higher vote.

Should it be considered more seriously? Would it make the Mapperley Top a more pleasant experience for pedestrians?

Closing it off would inevitably put more traffic onto the other junctions, although they are already in effect using those junctions, but from a different direction. Initially, there would be more vehicles having to use the roads between Breckhill Road and Woodthorpe Drive (Coronation Road, Maitland Road and Grange Road) but with options such making two of these ‘one-way’ could be considered.

The Breck Hill Road junction is the most contentious road junction in the area.

Has anything changed since the issue was previously looked into?

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