- Author, Alex Seabrook
- Role, Local Democracy Reporter
Major plans to transform travel in a city centre includes partly pedestrianising two key roads.
Most vehicles – including taxis and buses – would be banned from The Horsefair in Bristol under the proposals.
Cars and taxis would also be banned from going down Union Street under the plans, which will go out for public consultation in August.
Bristol City Council’s head of transport Adam Crowther said: “If I take a scheme forward that nobody’s complaining about, I probably haven’t done my job properly.”
Five separate business cases are being worked on, including new segregated cycle routes and bus lanes along Temple Way, Bond Street and Newfoundland Circus.
The Bedminster Bridges roundabout would be also be reworked for the benefit of buses, cyclists and pedestrians, the council added.
A new bus gate would be installed on Redcliffe roundabout, with general traffic potentially banned on Redcliffe Street.
Councillors on the council’s transport policy committee were updated about the city centre proposals on 11 July.
Adam Crowther, head of city transport, said: “The city centre proposals will be pretty transformative for the whole walking, cycling and bus network.
“You’ll pretty much end up with a fully segregated cycle network that goes all the way around the city centre and north, south, east and west, two or three different routes.”
He added: “If I take a scheme forward that nobody’s complaining about, I probably haven’t done my job properly because someone will always be losing something in a transport scheme.
“You’re always taking some space that’s committed to something, and using it for something else.
“There’s a limit to the amount of space and there’s always going to be challenges.”
The work will be paid for from a government grant called the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.
The projects form part of a wider vision for the city centre, known as the Development and Delivery Plan.
After the meeting, Green Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport committee, said: “From making Broadmead more welcoming and attractive, to preparing the way for the central element of a future rapid transit route, the plans would change how most people travel through the city centre.”