Bristol City Council reveals major plans for Park Street
The work, which could start this year, would see the area around Park Street and the Triangle transformed
Last updated 16th Jan 2025
Major changes are planned for one of Bristol's most famous roads as part of a scheme from the City Council to try and make public transport flow better through the centre.
The authority has announced today (16th January) that it plans to put a bus gate at the top of Park Street to stop the road being used for through traffic, along with a bus lane on the College Green and Canons Road junction.
It also plans to reduce Queens Road on the Triangle to one lane in each direction and create a continuous segregated cycleway from the bottom of Whiteladies Road to link up with the cycle way on Park Row, among other things.
The work is expected to cost around £37.5 million.
Councillor Ed Plowden, who chairs the Transport and Connectivity Committee on the Council, says "significant changes" to the road network are needed, both to meet environmental targets and the needs of the city's growing population.
He said: "As part of our transport corridors programme, we are sharing our updated designs for the central section of the number 2 bus route.
"We have changed these in response to feedback from the public consultation, which took place towards the end of 2021 and looked at the whole route.
"As it has been a while since then, we wanted to share the plans again as well as highlight the changes we’ve made to them. They show that by changing how road space is used we can speed up buses, so they are more reliable, and create new areas of open space for people to enjoy with new trees, planting, and seating areas."
He is urging Bristolians to check out the designs in full.
"We are not asking for your views at this point, as we have already consulted widely on the original plans and made changes based on the feedback we received. We are also holding a statutory consultation in the spring or summer on all the necessary traffic regulation orders for this section of the route, including the Park Street bus gate.”
As well as the Park Street bus gate and cycle lane on Whiteladies Road other ideas include:
- Introducing more areas of public space, including a large area in front of the Victoria Rooms on Queens Road.
- Upgrading bus stops and adding new ones.
- Widening pavements and improving crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Removing some pay and display parking and adding more disabled parking.
The Council labels the main changes as:
- Creating an inbound bus lane from Whiteladies Road that continues to the Queens Road/Triangle bus stops.
- Adding more detail to the public spaces on Queens Road, University Road and Park Street.
- Installing a segregated cycleway going in the direction of traffic on the north side of Queens Road.
- More cycle and e-scooter parking and laybys.
- Making Great George Street one-way in to Hill Street and making Charlotte Street one-way out from Hill Street.
- New pedestrian access to College Green.
George Burton, Head of Network First Bristol, said: “We fully support the council’s plans through one of the most congested parts of the city.
"These proposals would make our services more reliable and help to encourage more people to travel by bus along this high frequency transport corridor.
“Our Whiteladies Road services, including the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 77 and Y6, encounter serious delays because of congestion when reaching Park Street, particularly when heading down towards the city centre.
"We have seen the amount of traffic steadily increase over the past year. At peak times, at around 4.30pm, journeys are taking an extra 10 minutes from this time last year."
This scheme, Mr Burton says, is "essential" for First to run buses on time.
"We need to make bus journey times competitive against other modes if we are to promote sustainable travel in the city," he said.
"These plans, along with other investment into bus infrastructure on key bus routes across the city, will help us to achieve these aims.”
Construction work on the ideas could begin at the end of the year, following a statutory consultation due in the Spring/Summer.
In the meantime a council spokesperson says they will be contacting local businesses to get their thoughts.
The project is being funded by the UK Government as part of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, which is administered by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.