Traffic chaos sparks ‘Morecambe closed for business’ fears

Morecambe Town Councillor Roger Dennison is concerned over road safety on Morecambe Promenade as workmen carryout repairs to the sea wall.
23rd November 2015 — Morecambe Town Councillor Roger Dennison is concerned over road safety on Morecambe Promenade as workmen carryout repairs to the sea wall. 23rd November 2015

Concerns have been raised about a new section of roadworks outside Morecambe Town Hall while repairs are carried out on the sea defence wall.

A town councillor has compared temporary ‘narrow traffic lanes’ to the long-term roadworks outside Lancaster and Morecambe College and the McDonald’s drive through due to the building of the Heysham to M6 link road.

A stretch of traffic lane on Marine Road has been narrowed while £10m restoration work takes place on the wave reflection wall between Lord Street and Happy Mount Park.

Morecambe Town Councillor Roger Dennison is concerned over road safety on the tempory road lay out by McDonalds and Lancaster and Morecambe College.
23rd November 2015 — Morecambe Town Councillor Roger Dennison is concerned over road safety on the tempory road lay out by McDonalds and Lancaster and Morecambe College. 23rd November 2015

Coun Roger Dennison said: “We do not want Morecambe closed for business.

“It’s now difficult to cross over from the promenade to the town hall. If they give the lanes a bit more width it should be much safer.

“We have major problems coming to the Shrimp Roundabout with very narrow lanes. Where McDonald’s is, there’s exactly the same problem.

“It really screws up the traffic. We need high standards of signage.”

Work arranged by Lancaster City Council on the first stage of the wave reflection wall, replacing of 1,800m between Lord Street and Happy Mount Park, is expected to continue until spring 2017.

Coun John Bates said: “During the summer season it could be much much worse. We want it to be monitored on a regular basis and contingency plans made to change the system if it’s causing huge delays getting people in and out of Morecambe.”

Coun Janice Hanson, deputy leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “With any project of this enormity, we work closely with our contractor to minimise the disruption during works to enable two-way traffic to be maintained at all times.

“It has been agreed that the current temporary traffic measures in place offer the best solution to maintaining a constant flow of traffic along Morecambe Promenade until the necessary improvement works in this area are  undertaken.”

A spokesman for Costain, builders of the M6 link, said the minimum requirement for the width of two traffic lanes is 6.75m.

He said that at its widest part, the width of the carriageway close to McDonald’s is 7.5m.