Friday 27 September 2019
A number of road safety improvements are being introduced at South Esplanade, including the installation of an informal pedestrian crossing between Les Echelons / Havelet and South Esplanade.
Works to install the informal pedestrian crossing will start on Monday 30th September some four weeks ahead of the road resurfacing works which are scheduled to commence at the start of November.
Improving accessibility is one of the priorities identified within the Integrated Transport Strategy and the opportunity is therefore taken to upgrade pedestrian facilities during all planned road resurfacing works.
In order to provide sufficient visibility at the new informal pedestrian crossing, for both pedestrians and motorists, changes will need to be made to the existing layout of public parking in the area. However, by taking the opportunity to introduce small car parking, the overall number of parking spaces will actually increase, by 3 or possibly 4 spaces. It would otherwise have been necessary to remove 4 spaces had standard size car parking spaces been retained.
The small car parking spaces in other areas of St. Peter Port, including North Beach and Victoria Pier have proved popular with commuters and are well used. Traffic and Highway Services believes that this change will further encourage the use of smaller, more environmentally friendly cars which are better suited to our narrow roads.
A small number of replies were received in response to the legal notification relating to the proposed introduction of 13 long-term (10-hour) small car parking spaces on the seaward side at the southern end of South Esplanade. Respondents were opposed to the principal of switching to small car parking but it is considered that many more people would object if the overall number of spaces in the area was reduced to accommodate the new informal pedestrian crossing as opposed to being increased under this initiative.
A number of additional comments were also received about the plans for the informal pedestrian crossing and Traffic and Highway Services would like to take the opportunity to clarify the following points:
- The proposal is for an 'informal' pedestrian crossing point and not a formal zebra crossing. In this way motorists will still have right of way, but will be aware that there is a recognised place where pedestrians will cross where there is good visibility for all parties;
- The crossing will be located around 50m away from the bottom of Les Val des Terres and its junction with La Vallette.
