Western Harbour (Cumberland Basin)

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

According to an article in Bristol 24/7, Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees:

"...pushed hard on a tunnel. I really wanted to see if we could take all the roads off the car surface and tunnel under.

“We haven’t included that in there [the options released for public feedback] because it’s just financially undeliverable – six times the price, so we’ll include that in the report.

“But putting it out there when it’s not feasible doesn’t make any sense because it’s just not deliverable.”

Classic Marv.

No one who has given it more than a cursory examination thinks a tunnel is a viable option, but Marvin is trying to make it sound like that's the focus of the debate.

What many people are actually arguing is that any scheme which retains the existing swing bridge would very obviously be a lot cheaper, and would probably be preferable to any of the three highly-damaging alternatives his administration chooses to pursue.

[johnneyw]

It's actually not very illuminating but Bristol Live has published what it says is the first image of how the new Western Harbour could look.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/first-image-released-how-western-3436527

[Red Squirrel]

I don't think I'm the first to point out that this vision appears to have been produced by photoshopping a couple of photos of Wapping Wharf onto a picture of Cumberland Basin. I hope they didn't pay anyone too much of my council tax for doing that!

Classic Marv.

You can see what I mean if you look here: https://goo.gl/maps/jX9gBpuFZRpuxeEi7

[Bmblbzzz]

Decent attempt for a Year 10 art student.

[johnneyw]

I don't think I'm the first to point out that this vision appears to have been produced by photoshopping a couple of photos of Wapping Wharf onto a picture of Cumberland Basin. I hope they didn't pay anyone too much of my council tax for doing that!

Classic Marv.

You can see what I mean if you look here: https://goo.gl/maps/jX9gBpuFZRpuxeEi7

So I guess that means that the Wild Beer Company haven't actually got a 2nd premises.

[Red Squirrel]

Bristol City Council have now published the full 162-page Arup report, detailing the 9 road scheme options together with option 10 - the hybrid scheme. The report is here: https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/documents/s42622/Appendix%20A%20-%20Arup%20Report.pdf

Option 8 - a new four-lane lifting bridge by the Pump House pub, with total removal of the flyover network - is the clear winner, though it won't be uncontroversial as it involves demolishing the old iron swingbridge on Merchants Road, some houses on Ashton Avenue and the Riverside Garden Centre.

[Bmblbzzz]

Removing the flyover would be good but it would be a shame to lose that Lysaght bridge.

<Partially more informed commentary may or may not fill this space when I've had a look at the document.>

[Red Squirrel]

Feisty residents of Hotwells tell Mayor to think again on Western Harbour project

The Mayor of Bristol tried to reassure a sometimes feisty meeting in Hotwells tonight (January 22) that no decisions had been made on plans to transform the area around the Cumberland Basin.

But a packed meeting at Holy Trinity Church in Hotwells was almost unanimous in their strength of feeling against plans to radically alter the road network.


Speaker after speaker called on Marvin Rees to think again about the proposals which would see the existing Plimsoll Bridge and 1960s concrete road system of Brunel Way from Ashton Gate to Hotwells stripped away.

[...continues]

Source: Bristol Post

[Bmblbzzz]

I think the area could be greatly improved by removing the Plimsoll Bridge and especially the flyovers leading to/from it. But whether it will be does depend on what is built in their place.

[Red Squirrel]

I think the area could be greatly improved by removing the Plimsoll Bridge and especially the flyovers leading to/from it. But whether it will be does depend on what is built in their place.

It could, but the four lanes of traffic that currently cross there is not going to go away.

[Bmblbzzz]

No, (well some of it might take other routes, depending on its destination) but a different bridge might be more nicer. Not sure that any of the proposed replacement bridges necessarily will be an improvement, I haven't seen details of them.

[Red Squirrel]

COUNCIL GOES BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD ON WESTERN HARBOUR PROPOSALS

The council has gone back to the drawing board on its controversial plans for the Cumberland Basin area of Bristol in an attempt to win back public trust.

The local authority has promised to “go back to basics” with its ‘Western Harbour’ proposals and produce a new vision in autumn based on a fresh and “meaningful” public consultation.

But it will struggle to regain public trust after it found itself at loggerheads with residents over earlier options to redesign the ageing road network and open up land for new development to create a new residential area.

[...]

Now the council has said it plans to appoint a specialist organisation to get feedback from residents, businesses, stakeholders and the wider city on the future of Western Harbour and produce a “place shaping vision” setting out the type of place it could become.

[...]

Commission member Tim Rippington said: “We’re going to have to do quite a lot to regain trust from people based on what’s happened.”

The council could start by not adopting the “alienating” name ‘Western Harbour’ that “nobody associates with the area”, the Labour councillor said.

...see full article

Source: Bristol 24/7

[DaveHarries]

COUNCIL GOES BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD ON WESTERN HARBOUR PROPOSALS

The council has gone back to the drawing board on its controversial plans for the Cumberland Basin area of Bristol in an attempt to win back public trust.

The local authority has promised to “go back to basics” with its ‘Western Harbour’ proposals and produce a new vision in autumn based on a fresh and “meaningful” public consultation.

But it will struggle to regain public trust after it found itself at loggerheads with residents over earlier options to redesign the ageing road network and open up land for new development to create a new residential area.

[...]

Now the council has said it plans to appoint a specialist organisation to get feedback from residents, businesses, stakeholders and the wider city on the future of Western Harbour and produce a “place shaping vision” setting out the type of place it could become.

[...]

Commission member Tim Rippington said: “We’re going to have to do quite a lot to regain trust from people based on what’s happened.”

The council could start by not adopting the “alienating” name ‘Western Harbour’ that “nobody associates with the area”, the Labour councillor said.

...see full article

Source: Bristol 24/7

Good thing too IMO^▸ (in my opinion). I reckon that the drawing board is where they should stay.

Dave

[Red Squirrel]

[...]

Good thing too IMO^▸ (in my opinion). I reckon that the drawing board is where they should stay.

Dave

Something has to change, even if it just comes down to doing some heavy maintenance.

Most of Spike Island to the west of the Harbour Master's office (by The Cottage pub) is taken up with a knot of roads that were built to terminate a motorway-standard link to the A370 towards Temple Meads. This plainly (thankfully!) will never be completed, and parts of this junction complex have long been abandoned. It must be possible to simplify this and free off some land.

That aside, the road system could certainly be improved. It is supposed to be free-flowing, but many of the slip roads are far too tightly-curved to allow for safe merging.

But it's not going to be an easy circle to square; a lot of traffic comes through here on a normal day, and on days when the M5 is closed this goes up by an order of magnitude...

[Bmblbzzz]

The aerial photo in the B24/7 article shows just how much the area is dominated by the Plimsoll bridge and its slip roads. A visit to the small businesses situated west of Create Centre and the council's bonded warehouses emphasises this; they're literally in the shadow of those slip roads. It's hard to imagine there won't be a need for a bridge in that area but the whole of Spike Island has changed in the last ten years or so and Cumberland Road now carries relatively little traffic; a bridge crossing directly from south of the New Cut to north of the Floating Harbour would probably be more efficient and less dominating without losing any meaningful connectivity.