http://www.bigdig.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/bigdiglogo2_tcm81-39830.jpg

CCMS (City Centre Movement Strategy).

Lots of work going on around the city, for latest news:
http://www.bigdig.liverpool.gov.uk/getting/

Hope Street:
Work commenced 1st August to regenerate Hope Street with improved paving and kerbs, new traffic signals with pedestrian crossings, new lighting, and resurfacing in a 10 month programme of works.

For more info:
http://www.bigdig.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/HOPE%20ST%20LEAFLET_AMEND3_tcm81-44803.pdf

Berry Street - Renshaw Street:
Berry Street – Renshaw Street: This road improvement scheme commenced on schedule in January 2005 and will be completed in Winter 2005. Phase 1 with the construction of inbound works along Renshaw Street - Berry Street is now complete.

On Monday, June 13th the road closure changed direction and the outbound lanes of Renshaw Street and Berry Street were closed with the inbound lanes reopened.

Tithebarn Street:
Works began on 21st February and will continue until winter 2005. Drainage works and BT diversions are now complete to the southside of Chapel Street with kerbing works due to commence Thursday, 4th August and new lighting columns being erected Monday, 8th August.

Tithebarn Street from Pall Mall to Vauxhall Road junction: Paving works are now complete with all new streetlighting now installed.

Vauxhall Road junction to Marybone: All new street lighting has now been installed and paving works will commence on Tuesday 3rd August for two weeks.

Big dig is business 'disaster' Aug 3 2005
By Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

BUSINESSES in Liverpool hit by the Big Dig should be compensated by the city council, it was claimed today.

Small firms champion the Forum of Private Business says major city centre roadworks in the build up to Capital of Culture are playing havoc with retailers.

Len Collinson, Merseyside-based chairman of the FPB which has 25,000 members nationwide, said: "The Big Dig is the big disaster as far as city centre retailers are concerned.

"Digging up the roads may bea good thing for Liverpool's future, but they're digging the graves of local shops which are losing trade because people are discouraged from coming into the city centre.

"Small businesses should be compensated for their losses."

He said the council has failed to recognise the scale of the impact on city centre businesses.

He added: "Small businesses in Liverpool shouldn't be paying a price for the regeneration of the city, welcome though it is."

Department store Lewis's, in Ranelagh Street, supported the call for compensation. Lewis ' s chairman David Thompson said: "I absolutely back any claim for compensation. I estimate the big dig has cost us £1.5m."

A council spokesman said: "No local authority pays out when there is disruption caused by roadworks and especially when those roadworks are part of a regeneration scheme that will massively increase visitors and footfall in the city for the benefit of retailers."

neilhodgson@liverpoolecho.co.uk

And there's more on the way

By NICK COLIGAN, Liverpool Echo

MOTORISTS are facing more roadworks and diversions as the latest stage of the Big Dig starts.

Fresh congestion misery is likely as drivers get used to changes around Seymour Street and Copperas Hill, off Lime Street.

The aim is to introduce two-way traffic to Seymour Street, permanently remove vehicles from St Vincent Way, and improve the condition of
Copperas Hill.

Roadworks will start on Monday and are not due to finish until the winter.

They are the latest phase of the City Centre Movement Strategy, a £73m scheme to make it easier for vehicles and pedestrians to get around.

The much-criticised project has seen several city centre roads dug up for long periods of time, confusing motorists and leaving some shopkeepers out of pocket.

Ongoing works in Renshaw Street and Berry Street have sparked complaints from stores, some of which have issued reminders to customers that they are still open for business.

This latest phase should make the junction of London Road and Seymour Street easier for motorists to negotiate. It will also open up the site of the former Swan pub for new development.

Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool council's executive member for regeneration, said: "These works will create vast improvements to pedestrian movement, traffic flow and public transport."

nickcoligan@liverpoolecho.co.uk

Latest changes for city centre drivers

. From Monday, traffic can no longer use St Vincent Way but will instead be able to drive in both directions along Seymour Street.

. The lower half of Copperas Hill, between the Adelphi hotel and St Vincent Way, will be one-way going up the hill, apart from a small two-way section between Skelhorne Street and Hawke Street.

. Motorists will not be able to turn either left or right from Seymour Street into Copperas Hill and will instead have to follow a series of diversions.

. To reach the upper part of the road from Seymour Street, they must follow Russell Street, Brownlow Hill, Great Newton Street, London Road and Greek Street into Upper Copperas Hill.

Aaarg! Did anyone get stuck on Scotty Rd/Byrom St in the jams there today?! They've blocked off the exit onto Hunter St/Islington which is absolutely maddening!!! Especially as Byrom St has already been done! Very very busy in town today, can't remember it being so busy on a weekday outside Xmas.

Not quite CCMS but Switch Island (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15898227%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=switch%2disland%2drevamp-name_page.html) is to finally be sorted out. :)

Switch Island gets 'sorted out' every few years. I'll believe it when I see it.

As a regular user of Switch Island I think this latest "sort out" will ultimately turn out to be a waste of £5m. The Highways Agency are still just tinkering around with this junction, until a bridge is built extending the M57 northwards, I don't think the situation will improve. In fact when you consider MDHC plans for post Panamax container vessels and the extra HGV traffic that may bring, I fear is that the situation will get worse.

Does anyone know of 2 motorways, trunk road and strategic highway route (Dunnings Bridge Rd) ending on a roundabout? I don't.

A couple of years ago I went to an exhibition run by the Highways Agency to show their plans for this junction, which is based on something they called a "Mexican Junction" At this exhibition there were a series of maps of the area in question covering Copy Lane to Northway in Maghull. The maps showed different types of accidents in the previous 5 year period, accidents described as rear end collisions, HGV crashes, push bike and pedestrian, etc. Each dot on a map represented an accident, I was shocked and appalled by the sheer number of them. I asked one of the HA staff how many of them were fatal, he looked blankly at me and tried to change the subject, I persisted but he either didn't know or had been briefed not to say.

This project will not deal with the basic problem of traffic coming off the M57 and wanting to continue on towards Crosby and Southport, the result being that many vehicles use roads (rat runs) not designed or capable of handling such traffic.

The Highways Agency need to spend real money on sorting this junction out properly, until that happens all users of Switch Island will continue to suffer.

Switch Island needs to be a series of flyovers on a whole load of levels - there's no other solution for getting this much traffic to flow without being a disaster. And never mind extensions to the docks - what about when Ikea is built down the road?

End is in sight for roadworks (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16132336%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=end%2dis%2din%2dsight%2dfor%2droadworks-name_page.html) around Berry and Renshaw Street area :) .

Another turn of the screw for city drivers (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16247554%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=another%2dturn%2dof%2dthe%2dscrew%2dfor%2dcity%2ddrivers-name_page.html)

When first reading the article, my first thoughts were quite negative - like this will cause chaos. However after re-reading it, and thinking about the changes to be made, I don't think this is as bad of the people in the article are making out. Although it will cause some inconvenience - the no right-turn from Water Street travelling North probably being the major problem, it was clear with an increase in buses travelling along The Strand to the new bus station, some changes were inevitable.

not that Im anti-these changes or anything (I walk into my office on Castle St anyway). Im just curious. If I needed to get to Castle St by car from the docks, is it now impossible or would I have to have to go all the way around to get to Dale St and come down from there? I cant work it out...

That would be a real ball ache. Hey ho.

The article mentions a reduction of cars on James Street - not a total ban like on St. John's Lane. As I understand it, traffic won't be prevented from turning left out of The Strand onto James Street. Therefore travelling South you'd simply turn off The Strand into James Street to reach Castle Street. Travelling North, you'd have to turn off at the mini traffic island at the Crowne Plaza, and re-join The Strand, where you could then turn left into James Street.

The article mentions a reduction of cars on James Street - not a total ban like on St. John's Lane. As I understand it, traffic won't be prevented from turning left out of The Strand onto James Street. Therefore travelling South you'd simply turn off The Strand into James Street to reach Castle Street. Travelling North, you'd have to turn off at the mini traffic island at the Crowne Plaza, and re-join The Strand, where you could then turn left into James Street.

The two big jobs still to start on the "BIG DIG" are turning the Strand into a Maritime Boulevard and the re-laying of Church Street pedestrian zone, if we think we have seen chaos in town, just wait for these two to kick off.

The "new" Strand will be a nightmare for the traffic management boys as the full length from Leeds St down to Parliment St. will be re-aligned and resurfaced with new pedestrian crossings at all major junctions to be constructed. The fun is only just begining :)

The two big jobs still to start on the "BIG DIG" are turning the Strand into a Maritime Boulevard and the re-laying of Church Street pedestrian zone, if we think we have seen chaos in town, just wait for these two to kick off.

The "new" Strand will be a nightmare for the traffic management boys as the full length from Leeds St down to Parliment St. will be re-aligned and resurfaced with new pedestrian crossings at all major junctions to be constructed. The fun is only just begining :)

And if Merseytram do go ahead in the end it will bring even more chaos...

City centre roadworks come to an end Nov 9 2005
Liverpool Echo

MONTHS of congestion misery should come to an end next week when two city centre roads reopen.

Renshaw Street and Berry Street became oneway in January to allow £4m of road safety work to take place.

They have become one of Liverpool's worst areas for traffic tailbacks, and businesses have complained that trade has dropped off.

Both streets will become two-way again on Monday, although the overall project will not be completed until the end of the month. Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration, said: "This has been a very successful scheme which we hope will save lives in the future.

"We would like to thank everyone for their patience while these works have been going on, and we are delighted the project will be finishing on time and on budget before the busy Christmas shopping period gets fully under way."

Businesses today welcomed news of the roads reopening.

John Courtman, sales director at Rapid Hardware, in Renshaw Street, said: "The whole ambience of the street has changed and it is a good time for people to try shopping in this part of the city again.

"We would like to thank our loyal customers who have carried on coming in over this time."

Wider footpaths, better parking and loading facilities, and new paving have been installed.

New public spaces have been created at Brownlow Place and Upper Duke Place, while the Adelphi bus interchange has been improved.

The inbound lane of Mount Pleasant will stay closed at its junction with Brownlow Hill until the end of November.

The new paving road surfacing, and tree planting have added to the area greatly, but is anyone else baffled as to how and why all this work has taken nearly 11 months to complete. I'm no builder but re-paving and re-surfacing a road seems like a 6 months job tops. Not that I'm conplaining, it did need doing and does look good, just curious.

Red Scouser - I know this is off topic, but I'm puzzled...

"In Istanbul we've won it five times"

Shouldn't that be..

"In Istanbul we won it for a fifth time" ?

It doesn't roll off the tongue as well when you are shouting it from the stand to the tune of 'Sloop John B'.

True enough, but at least it makes sense ;)

The new paving road surfacing, and tree planting have added to the area greatly, but is anyone else baffled as to how and why all this work has taken nearly 11 months to complete. I'm no builder but re-paving and re-surfacing a road seems like a 6 months job tops. Not that I'm conplaining, it did need doing and does look good, just curious.

I must have a look at the finished job on the 19th, and yes is does seem to be an age, but there are a couple of things to remember when doing these schemes. First, its a bit more complex than it appears, all the drainage levels and falls need to be reassed and second this is not a "closed" building site it is an "active" site with vehicle and pedestrian traffic on all sides, so Health and Safety issues are paramount. Also the new thicker paving needs a good well engineer`d sub base to carry the heavier slabs.
I think Martin S,(our expert engineer) WHO LOVES :) road re-construction works would be delighted to give his views on this matter. :)

I drove along Berry Street onto Renshaw Street today, and I have to say all the work has easily been worth it. The new paving looks fantastic. After all the traffic jams, the area is now a breeze to drive through. The new public areas - Brownlow Place, in front of the Adelphi etc look very smart. I know there has been alot of heat put on certain people with regard to the big dig, but if this is the result, the end certainly justifies the means.

I agree. I walk down Upper Duke st & Duke st every day on the way into work. Berry St in particular looks much better and once the lights on Dukes Place are switched on, the whole area by the Blackie will look much better. Work on the Blackie is finally underway, so hopefully that building will be more active now too.

From the DP earlier in the week. I was walking down Renshaw St. a couple of weeks ago, the Rapid side of the street had been re-flagged 2/3 months ago, there were 6 or 7 areas of the newly laid pavement dug up!! the largest of these excavations being on the Lewis's corner. It looked as though the contractor was digging up looking for service (electricity I think) No wonder people and business's are fed up with this, to have buried services under the new flags without a feed off I think is ridiculous. BTW there was no-one actually working on these excavations when I passed them.



http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16380029%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26page=1%26headline=%2dthe%2dend%2dresult%2dwill%2dbe%2dworth%2dthe%2dpain%2d-name_page.html

There should be proper access points where the paving can be lifted and replaced easier and properly, because when they do replace the paving they dont do it properly, and it starts to fail subside and crack. :bash:

im actually very impressed by the improvements made infront of the adelphi and right up renshaw street

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icliverpool/dec2005/2/3/0003904F-3FA2-1390-9DEA0C02AC1BF824.jpg
- John Hardman from Rapid Hardware and cllr Peter Millea lay the last flagstone on Renshaw Street

On the right road Dec 2 2005
By Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

MONTHS of traffic misery have ended after a notorious set of city centre road-works were completed.

The final flagstone was laid yesterday to mark the conclusion of the £4m Big Dig scheme to improve Renshaw Street and Berry Street.

The project caused traffic mayhem when it started in January as motorists struggled to cope with a string of road closures.

Renshaw Street and Berry Street, two of the main routes in and out of the city centre, have been one-way for most of the year, causing lengthy tailbacks.

They reopened in both directions last month, but the last paving slab was not laid until a special ceremony yesterday.

Christmas lights in Renshaw Street and Berry Street were switched on immediately after.

The scheme has seen improved pedestrian crossings, wider pavements, better parking facilities, new paving, street lighting and tree planting brought in.

New public spaces have been created at Brownlow Place and Upper Duke Place, and the Adelphi bus interchange refurbished.

The much-criticised project, part of Liverpool's City Centre Movement Strategy, was carried out to improve the dreadful accident record around Renshaw Street and Berry Street.

Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration, said: "This scheme was vital for the safety of pedestrians and motorists, and we want to thank everyone for their patience.

"We need a road system that can safely and efficiently direct traffic around the city centre."

Businesses - many of whom saw a drop in trade while the roadworks were at their peak - today welcomed the long-awaited end of the project.

John Courtman, of Rapid Hardware, in Ren-shaw Street, said: "We are already seeing a massive improvement and a lot more people are coming in.

"The street looks much better and the shopping buzz is starting to return."

The Renshaw Street and Berry Street scheme is one of several due to end over the next few months.

Roadworks in Tithebarn Street, Seymour Street and Copperas Hill are all reaching their conclusion after months of congestion.

Woody hasn't been posting much on the forum recently. Thought this view of some colourful roadworks in Tithebarn Street might get him back:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/City%20Views/040206-MS.jpg

Is what they are doing on Church Street related to the Big Dig or is this utility work on pipes or something? Noticed it the other day but thought the Church Street phase wasn't due for a while yet.

do you mean where it is fenced of in near the new Primark

its just utility work. the big dig stuff has a really cool sculpture planned, but only last week got outline permission from Objective 1. Its got to go to full panel next. If approved...and all otehr big dig stuff has...it'll be on site in June/July...

Hope that helps.

Is church st going to be re-paved? Its an absolute disgrace at the moment. Anyone know if it will be a part of another phase of the big dig?

church st is to be repaved...with a sculpture that dives in and out of the pavement throughout the lenght of the street (in a loch ness monster stylee).

Had a wonder around Renshaw Street/Mount Pleasant today and I have to say, I'm disappointed. The improvements were only finished a few months back yet already the pavements and roads are covered in chewing gum, food and drink. They look a real mess and it won't be long before they're in a bad way again. They need cleaning every couple of weeks to blast off the dirt. Suppose its not helped by the fact that it doesn't seem to have rained for ages either.

The road improvements seem good, but whats with these new crossings with the 'little green man' at waist height facing inwards? The old style crossings where you look straight ahead at the lights are simple. You wait, it turns green, you cross. These new ones seem to cause confusion as you have to look to your right/left to see a tiny green man and nobody knows when to cross. Don't like them at all.

church st is to be repaved...with a sculpture that dives in and out of the pavement throughout the lenght of the street (in a loch ness monster stylee).

Is that definately going ahead? I've seen renders of Church Street with it and it's strange, though not necessarily in a bad way.

if it gets approval for Objective 1 funding when GONW meet when it goes to full application. It's already got outline approval and all other similar applications (Williamson Sq, MAtthew St etc) have been approved.

Have you got a copy of that render. I'd be interested to see it again and can't find it.

The road improvements seem good, but whats with these new crossings with the 'little green man' at waist height facing inwards? The old style crossings where you look straight ahead at the lights are simple. You wait, it turns green, you cross. These new ones seem to cause confusion as you have to look to your right/left to see a tiny green man and nobody knows when to cross. Don't like them at all.

I agree, it's an awful solution to something that wasn't a problem in the first place. The idea is that the little lights encourage you to face the direction of which the traffic nearest to you is coming from, but people find them awkward and don't like the fact they can't see them at all once they start crossing. Unfortunately, the department of transport stand by them as do most traffic singal engineers, who insist they know whats best. However, I've never came across a single normal person who likes. Add to this the fact that no other country in the world has them in that position. I also believe they are dangerous as from my observations, particularly from the one in Queens Square, most people don't notice them and just walk onto the crossing and get caught out by the vehicles. In fact, a young mum was killed there do years ago. I believe Birmingham Council has rebelled on this issue and is now building the more conventional variety after a mass of complaints and fatalities.

if it gets approval for Objective 1 funding when GONW meet when it goes to full application. It's already got outline approval and all other similar applications (Williamson Sq, MAtthew St etc) have been approved.

Have you got a copy of that render. I'd be interested to see it again and can't find it.

'fraid not. I saw it in the Echo. I think it was off Liverpool Vision but I'm not too sure. I'll try my luck and have a google for it.

Woody hasn't been posting much on the forum recently. Thought this view of some colourful roadworks in Tithebarn Street might get him back:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/City%20Views/040206-MS.jpg

Good timing Martin, I have in the last hour returned from my third job in London in the last two weeks, hence my lack of postings, in fact am back in the "smoke" on wednesday until next sunday, so will miss the big pow pow at the Doctors.

OH and thanks for the display of brightly coloured cones, i love`m :)

A STRETCH of city centre Lime Street will become bus-only and the route to the city's main station will dramatically change when work on the next phase of the Big Dig starts in just six days.

Transport experts insist the changes will help traffic flows through the heart of Liverpool.

The work on Skelhorne Street, starting on Wednesday, will be the final piece of the jigsaw in the area after the recent completion of work in Renshaw Street and Berry Street.

The main elements of the £400,000 Lime Street project will see the one-way system in Skelhorne Street being reversed so that traffic comes down the hill towards Lime Street.


Lime Street from the Adelphi junction to Elliot Street will become a bus lane, with all general traffic diverted up Copperas Hill.


Skelhorne Street currently takes traffic from Lime Street, along the side of Lime Street station, and up to Copperas Hill.


This will be reversed by the end of the work.


The aim of the 16-week scheme is to improve general access to Lime Street station, access for public transport and to improve road safety in the area.


A new bus stop to serve the airport and ferry terminal will also be installed and the crossing facilities at Lime Street will be upgraded.


For the first 10 weeks of the scheme there will be lane restrictions only, then in week 11 of the programme, Skelhorne Street will be closed to all traffic at its junction with Lime Street for a period of four weeks.


Access to Lime Street station will be from Copperas Hill and Bolton Street which will be one way towards the station during the works.

At the end of the scheme both Skelhorne Street and Bolton Street will change direction.

A bus lane is being installed on Lime Street from the Adelphi junction to Elliot Street. Only buses and taxis will be able to travel along this stretch of Lime Street towards Lime Street station.

Traffic heading towards the Adelphi junction will be unaffected.

Access to Lime Street Station will be maintained throughout the works, both for taxis and motorists.

The bus stop on Skelhorne Street will move to Lime Street only when Skelhorne Street is closed for three weeks after Easter.


The scheme is designed to draw traffic away from Lime Street and to ensure motorists use the improved route up Copperas Hill and on to Seymour Street.


Motorists needing to access St John's car park from the direction of Renshaw Street can use Copperas Hill and then turn left down Skelhorne Street to get down onto Lime Street.


Motorists who turn into Ranelagh Street from Renshaw Street are already breaking the law - the route is only for buses, taxis, cyclists and loading access.


The Lime Street work is part of a £73m programme to improve the roads and public areas of Liverpool, developed by partners Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision and Merseytravel.


Lime Street remains open for traffic, but the new schemes aim to encourage motorists to avoid it.


Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool's executive member for regeneration, explained: "This is a relatively small scheme but a vital one to keep traffic moving around our city centre.


"This will improve access to our main train station, Lime Street, and create better connections across all modes of transport.


"We hope disruption will be kept to a minimum but we apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused."


How the shake up will work.
NOW: A car coming from Renshaw Street and heading for the station can drive along Lime Street and make a right turn into one-way Skelhorne Street to reach the station car park.

AFTER: The car will still come down Renshaw Street, but will have to turn right into Copperas Hill alongside the Adelphi Hotel, travel up the hill and then turn left into Skelhorne Street.

NOW: A car coming along Lime Street from London Road can reach the station by making a left hand turn into Skelhorne Street to reach the station drop-off point or car park.

AFTER: The motorist will have to continue along Lime Street, turn left up Copperas Hill and double-back down Skelhorne Street, adding around half a mile on to the journey.

NOW: A car heading from Berry Street towards St John's Centre car park currently comes along Renshaw Street, continues straight along Lime Street and reached the car park entrance.


AFTER: Lime Street from the Adelphi junction will become a bus lane for buses heading towards the city centre. Cars will have to turn right, go up Copperas Hill, make a left turn into Skelhorne Street, continue to the bottom to re-join Lime Street and into the car park.

Oh no! It's Big Dig 2 Mar 13 2006
By Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

MOTORISTS are set for months' more misery as one of Liverpool's busiest roads faces the diggers.

The Strand is set to be dug up as the latest stage of the Big Dig comes to the city's streets.

New access points are needed for the Grosvenor shopping development and the Kings Dock and council bosses want to improve the traffic flow past the Three Graces.

Liverpool council and Laing O'Rourke, the building firm working on the Paradise Project, were due to unveil the full details - part of the notorious Big Dig - later today.

But the ECHO can reveal it includes a £5m project to improve the section of The Strand between Water Street and James Street.

The works, due to start in May and initially lasting about four months, will see lanes closed -although city leaders will pledge to keep traffic flowing.

Other elements include:

* Creating a new right turn from the Mersey tunnel exit.

* Major construction on the partly-built underground car park at the former Chavasse Park.

* Further work on the Kings Dock arena and Pier Head canal link projects.

A second phase of work on The Strand is scheduled to start in April 2007.

City leaders say this year's projects are vital for Liverpool's regeneration.

But city centre residents today predicted difficulties.

Michael Swerdlow, general secretary of the Federation of Liverpool Waterfront Residents' Associations, said: "It is only going to get worse.

"It is already very difficult getting off Albert Dock onto The Strand because of the volume of traffic.

"The build-up of vehicles along the main road means journeys that once took a minute or two can now take more than 10 minutes during rush hour.

"Maybe signs could be put up asking people to use Queens Drive or the M57 if they want to go from north to south, rather than the city centre."

The council's £73m City Centre Movement Strategy is aimed at improving the flow of traffic before the start of Capital of Culture.

Oh no! It's Big Dig 2 Mar 13 2006
By Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo
"The build-up of vehicles along the main road means journeys that once took a minute or two can now take more than 10 minutes during rush hour.


Well if these journeys only took one minute by car, thats about 10 minutes on foot, so why not just walk it?

Part of the reason for the congestion is because of people like this making short journeys.

And P.S Well done Liverpool Echo for once again reporting this with such a negative spin.

Even our own local press likes to stir things up doesn't it?

they could have least have said - yes, it'd been a bit nasty and tricky - but doesn't it look nice now, and well done on pretty much sticking to budget and time.

they'd only complain if it wasn't done.

And P.S Well done Liverpool Echo for once again reporting this with such a negative spin.

Just who are the Echo trying to kid, :bash: they know this work is required, yet they report it as something evil attacking the poor old motorist.

Come on Echo ,try explaining to the readers the reasons ,a few Maps of the locations ,would`nt go a-miss either.

Yes, these people who complain about massive changes that will ultimately bring them huge benefit- they're like bloody peasants! Set in their ways and don't want change, even if it's good for them. I think a lot of the business people might be complaining about more peripheral issues, such as how the Big Dig has been organised. But it says a lot about the Echo when it indulges in this whinging an stupidity- won't the local media ultimately benefit from these changes too? It is unbelievable how one sided they are about it- it really does act like the peasants' newspaper at times. :ohno:

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icliverpool/mar2006/6/7/000BD13E-810B-1416-AEC10C02AC1BF824.jpg

Liverpool's last footpath in the sky to be demolished
Mar 14 2006
Daily Post

ONE of the most notorious eyesores in the World Heritage Site, the footbridge which crosses The Strand, is to be demolished.

It will be replaced by two new super-crossings that will halt all traffic while pedestrians cross in safety to the Pier Head.

The footbridge was erected in the 1970s when Liverpool had a passion for walkways and so-called footpaths in the sky.

All of them have now been demolished, leaving the Strand bridge as the last of what was once aimed to be a city-wide network of high level walkways.

The footbridge was refurbished several years ago and has even figured in a television drama series. It was also occupied by Fathers for Justice in one of their publicity stunts.

It is scheduled to come town next year as part of the new two-part phase of the Big Dig, the city's major renovation and improvement programme.

Planners have always considered that access to the Pier Head has been difficult for city centre visitors.

The new phase of the Big Dig will aim to resolve that by creating two new crossings.

They will be introduced in the first part of the new phase of the Big Dig starting in May and lasting for four months. The roadworks will bring yet more disruption for city centre commuters.

It will mean a round-the-clock closure of the nearside lane for traffic heading from Wapping towards Leeds Street and off-peak lane closures for traffic heading from Leeds Street to James Street.

The new pedestrian crossings will be sited near to the junctions of Water Street and Brunswick Street.

When the work is finished vehicles will not be allowed to turn right from Water Street into Strand. The gap in the central reservation will be filled in. But vehicles coming out of the dock exit from the Birkenhead Tunnel will once again be allowed to make a right hand turn.

Last night, Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool City Council's executive member for regeneration said: "There is no denying that The Strand is going to be extremely difficult for motorists over the next year or so.

"That is the inevitable result of regeneration schemes in the area. These are helping to transform Liverpool. "

To add to the misery for drivers, work starts soon on a new sewer for the Malmaison Hotel at Princes Dock.

It will mean the closure, for up to a month, of the outward bound lane of Bath Street, at its New Quay junction.

Just who are the Echo trying to kid, :bash: they know this work is required, yet they report it as something evil attacking the poor old motorist.

Come on Echo ,try explaining to the readers the reasons ,a few Maps of the locations ,would`nt go a-miss either.

We often bemoan our undernourished media sector, usually wanting some TV stations and more local rags, so it's ironically sad when the local media don't feel like being at all supportive in what is a necessity, modern road layouts, sidewalks et all. We all moan when we get caught up in road works, whether it be water works or highway resurfacing, but we all know deep down that it has to be done. The Echo should try and get a more balanced and realistic perspective to what's happening to the city and why it's happening.

The Echo should try and get a more balanced and realistic perspective to what's happening to the city and why it's happening.

Reading todays DP ,you would not think they are sister papers, Daily Post`s Larry Neild has a much more measured approach to this story, he does at least try and dig a bit deeper (no pun intended :) ) and report facts.

Also the DP editorial welcomes the Windsor development for the Baltic Triangle

I knew I had made the right move last year, when I switched my paper order from the Echo to the Daily Post :cheers:

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icliverpool/mar2006/6/7/000BD13E-810B-1416-AEC10C02AC1BF824.jpg

Liverpool's last footpath in the sky to be demolished
Mar 14 2006
Daily Post

ONE of the most notorious eyesores in the World Heritage Site, the footbridge which crosses The Strand, is to be demolished.




That really is good news.
:cheers:

I knew I had made the right move last year, when I switched my paper order from the Echo to the Daily Post :cheers:

The thing is, most people buy the paper in the evening, which makes the Echo the only choice. An evening edition of the Post would be chipper.

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icliverpool/mar2006/6/7/000BD13E-810B-1416-AEC10C02AC1BF824.jpg

Liverpool's last footpath in the sky to be demolished
Mar 14 2006
Daily Post

ONE of the most notorious eyesores in the World Heritage Site, the footbridge which crosses The Strand, is to be demolished.

The most notorious? Well why didn't somebody tell me so I could moan about it on SSC?


It will be replaced by two new super-crossings that will halt all traffic while pedestrians cross in safety to the Pier Head.

Progress!? :bash:

The footbridge was erected in the 1970s when Liverpool had a passion for walkways and so-called footpaths in the sky

No fucking chance of bringing back the Overhead Railway then?

I love the Echo when they pontificate, whilst typing away on their keyboards in THAT building :)

That really is good news.
:cheers:
Please explain Kung. Or anyone else. I'm not defending it. Just like to know why - if it's such an eyesore - have I missed all the previous comments on this forum for the past couple of years, apart from Kung's ???

That's the only safe and quick way to cross the Strand. Miss the lights and I reckon it takes 3 minutes or more just to cross the road!

How will these 'super crossings' work?

Please explain Kung. Or anyone else. I'm not defending it. Just like to know why - if it's such an eyesore - have I missed all the previous comments on this forum for the past couple of years, apart from Kung's ???

It has been castigated a few times on this forum, (even by Martin S who was the engineer on its construction,) as a "vista killer" I am pleased it is going, but as a safe method of crossing the Strand , I liked it. I just hope that the new supercrossings will work, and this "racetrack" can be tamed.

It has been castigated a few times on this forum
When?

(even by Martin S who was the engineer on its construction,)
So what?

Reading todays DP ,you would not think they are sister papers, Daily Post`s Larry Neild has a much more measured approach to this story, he does at least try and dig a bit deeper (no pun intended :) ) and report facts.

Also the DP editorial welcomes the Windsor development for the Baltic Triangle

I knew I had made the right move last year, when I switched my paper order from the Echo to the Daily Post :cheers:
yes that is very true, they both have a startlingly different stance on issues, the daily post is more of a professional morning commuters paper and covers alot of business and financial issues whilst the echo is a populist local rag.. theyre as different from each other as the times is from the sun

Maggie, just groaned when I saw your posting was the same time as mine. I have a local forum perv stalker who makes snide comments that you and I are the same person. The same perv stalker PM'd me commenting on the recent posts by L8.

Can you please confirm to this fruitcake that we are not the same person? Why the fuck should I take a different name when I can say what I want to under my own username.

Liverpolitan, you were the first person to make a connection that Maggie and I were the same person. Why?

Maggie, you're response is required too.

I want this sorted out once and for all.

That bridge looks alright on the outside. But inside it stinks of piss, and the plastic window screens are all scratched up. It's just dark in there. I remember taking a suvner mate across it and he sort of braced himself when we climbed the steps- as if it reminded him of some place he'd been mugged or something.
Also, I dunno if it's any use to people in wheel chairs, or people with toddlers in prams.

Dunno about these 'super' crossings though... Super???

im nobody but myself.. thats as far as i intend to get into this dicussion.. ever.. if other people want to make deluded accusations that for them to resolve

When?

You would have to read all the forums, to answer that ,Dave :)


So what?

It is a normal human reaction,to have fond memories of a project you helped create in your earlier working life. I very strong recollections of many jobs that I worked on over the past 40 years. Many being in the city centre and many (not all :) ) have been reduced to rubble in the name of progress.

Maggie, just groaned when I saw your posting was the same time as mine. I have a local forum perv stalker who makes snide comments that you and I are the same person. The same perv stalker PM'd me commenting on the recent posts by L8.

Can you please confirm to this fruitcake that we are not the same person? Why the fuck should I take a different name when I can say what I want to under my own username.

Liverpolitan, you were the first person to make a connection that Maggie and I were the same person. Why?

Maggie, you're response is required too.

I want this sorted out once and for all.

Now David, you actually raised this yourself on this thread, no-one else did. Only you know why you did that, I assume it's because you are bored and things have been a bit quiet. No-one else commented on this non-issue, only you. You have done this before, you open the non-issue up when others have forgotten about it.

The issue with maggie began when scouseyuppie claimed maggie had used his name here. He did not understand how maggie could possibly know the name, as neither he nor anyone else had used it here. The strong implication was that maggie was actually someone who has another identity on this Forum, because maggie knew the name of scouseyuppie. Maggie now says this is not the case, that there is no other ID - and personally I don't care - it's still a mystery how maggie knew scouseyuppy's name, but not one that I care about greatly.

Some suspicion fell on you because of your habit of using peoples names here when they do not use them themselves - eg you used Sloynes name here whereas he has not. You are the only person to do that. It was natural therefore that you should be at least considered in the "who is maggie - who knows scouseyuppie's name" question.

The issue of multiple identity on internet fora and message boards is not unique to here, it's commonplace, and it is not a grave matter to be thought of as posting as someone else. I've been told by people they think I post here under another name - indeed you have accused Multivac of having a suspicious pattern of voting for my pictures. I've explained you are wrong to harbour that suspicion (that I am also Multivac) but I don't go on about it, I know the truth, and you can believe what you like. I don't care. So please don't become all hysterical about it and demand some kind of grand inquisition to sort this non-issue out once and for all. It's part of life, you do it (that is suspect and sometimes accuse others of having more than one ID), and it doesn't cause the world to end.

CAW said you and maggie use different ISPs. I have said twice I do not believe you post as maggie. What more can I say? You haven't once said you dont' believe I post as Multivac - do I whinge and whine about it? No.

I think you need to find other things to fret about, to be honest. You keep opening this up, and quite frankly some might think you are protesting a little too much. Why not drop it, as others have, and move on? I don't think others are interested in this, and your reminders about it are not helpful if you genuinely want the issue forgotten.

Anyway, since you claim to have me on ignore, you won't actually read this, will you?

Liverpolitan or whatever your real name is.
Since your accusation that I am Maggie, I've been bothered by personal emails with references to Maggie. I've also had a number of posts on this forum containing snide "Maggie" remarks.

I've just had a recent PM from Blabb asking my opinion on the identity of L8. I basically told Blabb to go fuck himself and that I don't like him. I now regret writing this, because I quite like Blabb. According to Blabb, his recent Dave/Maggie remarks were meant for Maggie, not myself.

However, none of this would have happened but for you. I don't need this and I hold you responsible.

Liverpolitan or whatever your real name is.
Since your accusation that I am Maggie, I've been bothered by personal emails with references to Maggie. I've also had a number of posts on this forum containing snide "Maggie" remarks.

I've just had a recent PM from Blabb asking my opinion on the identity of L8. I basically told Blabb to go fuck himself and that I don't like him. I now regret writing this, because I quite like Blabb. According to Blabb, his recent Dave/Maggie remarks were meant for Maggie, not myself.

However, none of this would have happened but for you. I don't need this and I hold you responsible.

LOL what a drama queen you are. I've had a PM calling my Multivac - so what? You are basically trolling here, trying to fabricate a great big drama out of nothing. Time to put Davey boy back on ignore. See you when you calm down.

I know this thread is called "THE BIG DIG" but please guys don`t take it to literary :kiss: and make up

LOL what a drama queen you are. I've had a PM calling my Multivac - so what? You are basically trolling here, trying to fabricate a great big drama out of nothing. Time to put Davey boy back on ignore. See you when you calm down.
"Drama Queen" "trolling" "See you when you calm down"

:)

I know this thread is called "THE BIG DIG" but please guys don`t take it to literary :kiss: and make up

Bar Steward :) :cheers:

And one for Mag... Hang on, where the fuck did it go?

:cheers:

Bar Steward :) :cheers:

Cheers Dave & Poli

More of this :cheers: and less of this :bash:

Here's a round on me lads- I'll see Maggie when I get back to my room :naughty:

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

"The most notorious"?
FFS!:hahaha:

http://www.**************************/strand.jpg

Here's a round on me lads- I'll see Maggie when I get back to my room :naughty:

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
And I apologise for that PM I sent you. I'd finally had enough on that day. :cheers:

The most notorious and only...

They should make a really wide bridge with shops on it- make a kind of real street in the sky, like the Rialto or whatever its called in Venice. Better than a dark, pissy, airport bridge.

Dave,

:cheers: and nice pic.

From last nights Echo, cars comming out of the dock entrance tunnel will now be able to turn right and head north I think this is a good idea.


http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9151/dsc015261xp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Please explain Kung. Or anyone else. I'm not defending it. Just like to know why - if it's such an eyesore - have I missed all the previous comments on this forum for the past couple of years, apart from Kung's ???

Just my own opinion,I think it blocks out certain views and as I say in my opinion it is ugly.
Hopefully the 'Super Crossings' whatever they turn out to be will make it easier to cross over the road.

Whatever happened to the plan to sink the road from wapping to Princes dock? :cheers: :cheers:

Hope St. looks really good at this end of the street, BTW the nearest building on the left part of LIPA is due to be demolished and a new wing replacing it. If I remember correctly didn't EH or one of the heritage mob object the new design!!


http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/331/hopest15to.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Hope Street

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4677/ccmshopestreetmarch067xm.jpg

The Strand footbridge, not bad when there are people using it, a lot better than the street level crossing experience. But would avoid at night.

http://img308.imageshack.us/img308/2989/zstrandfootbridge16fw.jpg

http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/9696/zstrandfootbridge36jo.jpg

a relic of a forgotten Liverpool, thank god its going.

a relic of a forgotten Liverpool, thank god its going.
Its going?First time i have heard that What will replace it?

Its going?First time i have heard that What will replace it?
"Super-Crossings"

See full details here (http://www.bigdig.liverpool.gov.uk/projects/future/Strand_CCMS.asp)

"Super-Crossings"

See full details here (http://www.bigdig.liverpool.gov.uk/projects/future/Strand_CCMS.asp)
Great news no render yet but i suppose anything is an improvement. :)

Is this a new concept or copied from elsewhere?

based on japan's supercrossings

based on japan's supercrossings


Any pictures?

no, i just read that somewhere

City trees go to make way for £5.5m transformation



THE face of Liverpool's main shopping street was significantly altered yesterday with the chopping down of a number of 30-year-old trees to pave the way for a £5.5m transformation project.

Officials promised that the axed trees in Church Street and Lord Street will be replaced with new mature trees as part of the work.

Work will start in mid-May. The main aim of the scheme is to improve the pedestrian areas with new high quality granite paving, new street lighting, new benches and litter bins and tree planting.

The concept for the scheme is "The Ribbons of Life", representing the social, cultural and economic aspects of Liverpool and its people.


That ribbon theme will be visible in the paving and the street furniture. Sculptures will also reflect this idea.


Preparation work began at the weekend with the removal of the existing trees due to public safety issues and problems with damage from the tree roots. These will be replaced with 33 new mature trees, all nine metres high.


A city council spokeswoman said last night: "The trees had to be removed before the main work begins. The Trees and Woodland management team of the city council carried out a full assessment of the trees' condition.

"Planted in the 1970s, they have proved unsuitable trees for this location and due to their current poor condition there is a risk of branches falling off on to passing pedestrians. The work was carried out on Sunday morning to minimise disruption for retailers, shoppers and businesses.

"We are really upset about the loss of the trees, but they were originally planted in poor conditions.

"This is an opportunity to create a fantastic long term new planting scheme with over 30 mature trees being planted. All the trees removed will be chipped and recycled."

Carl Speight, general manager of the Business Improvement District, said: "This scheme will help to complement the nearby Paradise Project and ensure our prime retail area remains an important part of the city centre.

"There has been extensive consultation with retailers and businesses and we will continue to do all we can to work with the council to ensure any disruption is kept to a minimum."

"It is a very exciting scheme that will bring this vital area up to date and make it an enjoyable and pleasant place to work, to


shop and to visit." The project on Church Street and Lord Street is part of the City Centre Movement Strategy, a £73m scheme to improve roads and public areas of Liverpool city centre, implemented by partners Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision, and Merseytravel.


The £5.5m scheme has been funded by the council, the NorthWest Development Agency, the European Regional Development Fund, and Cityfocus.

Great news. With Paradise St seemingly about to be shut down to allow demolition of all its buildings, and Lord st/church st about to be ripped up, Downtown is really going to be chaos....brilliant!!

New ribbons of life pic on BBC website. Can anyone set their enlargification unit onto it.?

thanks in advance..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4938544.stm

The quality of the paving is great here, but have noticed other recent areas showing cracked paving i.e. Ropewalks, probably down to revellers parking on the pavement :bash: Why no fines for parking on pavements.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3628/zhopestccms19lj.jpg

The quality of the paving is great here, but have noticed other recent areas showing cracked paving i.e. Ropewalks, probably down to revellers parking on the pavement :bash: Why no fines for parking on pavements.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3628/zhopestccms19lj.jpg

It doesn`t seem to matter how many times the pavements are replaced in Liverpool Jux.

Within weeks there is always some damage - in any case the places should be patrolled (which was suppossed to have been a priority of `Gold Zones`) and pavements replaced as necessary.

If they (LCC) continue to only do one off grant aided jobs and no active maintenance thereafter we will just end up back at square one as before.

This is also why city centre skate boarders have caused so much damage to the various steps on St Georges Hall, Victoria Monument etc.

If they (LCC) continue to only do one off grant aided jobs and no active maintenance thereafter we will just end up back at square one as before.

Exactly. Why go to so much trouble replacing things if they aren't going to be looked after? Replacements aren't enough.

I don't understand why kebab shops can get away with it either, outside their shops the pavements are always disgusting, they should be forced to clean up any mess daily.

Prevention is cheaper than the cure. At this rate, we'll have another big dig in 5 years time.

Exactly. Why go to so much trouble replacing things if they aren't going to be looked after? Replacements aren't enough.

I don't understand why kebab shops can get away with it either, outside their shops the pavements are always disgusting, they should be forced to clean up any mess daily.

Prevention is cheaper than the cure. At this rate, we'll have another big dig in 5 years time.

Five years Steve?

You`re being optomistic aren`t you.

The pavements need a permanent `Max Factor` ..... director.

When I was in Paris some years back I noticed that free flowing water was used in various streets for cleaning the pavement by various cafe`s and shops etc. (I`d first noticed the small odd old lumps of soggy carpet in the gutters.)

The water I think is just turned on in the morning and it is up to the local business to make use of it, hence the lumps of soggy carpets to catch the water as it usually runs down hill - well in the Mon Martre district anyway.

Well I thought that this was a brilliant idea and consequently wrote to LCC on my return (years ago) suggesting using the many arterial wells that Liverpool has.

Well (hoho ho no pun intended) nothing happened - another score on the LCC door of inactivity.....talk about pump up the volume.

Hope Street shuts for £2.9m resurfacing May 18 2006

A CITY centre street will be partly closed next week so a £2.9m roadworks scheme can be finished.

Hope Street will be shut in sections so it can be resurfaced.

The stretch between Hardman Street and Mount Pleasant will close from 4am on Tuesday, May 23 until 6am on Thursday, May 25.

Access to Maryland Street will be via Rodney Street, Hardman Street and South Hunter Street. Arrad Street will also be closed at the same time.

Hope Street's junction with Hardman Street and Myrtle Street will be closed from 8pm on Wednesday, May 24 until 6am on Thursday, May 25.


Finally, the southbound carriageway will be shut on Wednesday, May 24 from 6am- 8pm to finish off any last areas of resurfacing where required.


All diversions will be signposted, and if bad weather hits, the work will be postponed until the following weekend.


The Hope Street project began in August last year and will finish next month.


Workmen have already fitted paving and kerbs, new lighting, and traffic signals with pedestrian crossings.

Hope Street shuts for £2.9m resurfacing May 18 2006

A CITY centre street will be partly closed next week so a £2.9m roadworks scheme can be finished.

Hope Street will be shut in sections so it can be resurfaced.

The stretch between Hardman Street and Mount Pleasant will close from 4am on Tuesday, May 23 until 6am on Thursday, May 25.

Access to Maryland Street will be via Rodney Street, Hardman Street and South Hunter Street. Arrad Street will also be closed at the same time.

Hope Street's junction with Hardman Street and Myrtle Street will be closed from 8pm on Wednesday, May 24 until 6am on Thursday, May 25.


Finally, the southbound carriageway will be shut on Wednesday, May 24 from 6am- 8pm to finish off any last areas of resurfacing where required.


All diversions will be signposted, and if bad weather hits, the work will be postponed until the following weekend.


The Hope Street project began in August last year and will finish next month.


Workmen have already fitted paving and kerbs, new lighting, and traffic signals with pedestrian crossings.

Hope Street shuts for £2.9m resurfacing that`s a seriously lot of money and I hope it shows!

You have to remember Hope Streets a fairly long stretch. I catually think £2.9M's fairly cheap.

Any high traffic area (Bold Street, church Street, Hope Street) is going to get a battering, from pedestrians, cycalists, delivary, taxi's, skateboarders. But it what makes up a city. No point tidying everything up then not letting people use it.

If you notice in very high traffic areas, Concert Square and Cavern Quarter they have cobbles down, much more hard waring.

If you notice in very high traffic areas, Concert Square and Cavern Quarter they have cobbles down, much more hard waring.

And in the Georgian Quarter [sic] surely cobbles would look much better aswell?

The Heritage stuff gets a lot of attention on here and rightly so, but the Georgian Quarter is an area which would benefit from being protected. Not totally with horse drawn carriages being the only permitted form of transport, but I would have thought the heritage bods would have been desperate to see cobbled streets in this area if it was possible.

I lot of Liverpool's roads still are cobbled, they've just covered them with tarmac, lucky us! I love cobbled streets, especially around the Georgian Quater. They also do a great job of slowing cars down, negating the need for 56 speed bumbs per street. (Seriously on the route to my house, in a stretch of less than a mile there are 17 speed bumbs, making the ride feel rougher than an average crossing of the Irish Sea!)

Top half of Hope Street to add to Juxt's pic:

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/6343/dsc02636uu.jpg

I lot of Liverpool's roads still are cobbled, they've just covered them with tarmac, lucky us! I love cobbled streets, especially around the Georgian Quater. They also do a great job of slowing cars down, negating the need for 56 speed bumbs per street.

Liverpool cobbles are predominantly "sets". When wet these are treacherous. Believe me I have drove on them often enough and in one incident my car turned 180 degrees on the sets when wet. Best gone. Cobbles in pedestrain areas only with 10mph service roads.

But our historic cobbles!?! You philistine! They're part of our history and shouldn't be filled in with tarmac just to make it modern!

touché

They are also a bastard to walk on.. dockeers, horses and the like used to be crippled by them. Cobbles are better on the roads... make them all 10mph!

John... you must have been speeding, you eco warrior!
No sense of place or space... except for those holes in the ground where they used to park ships!

But our historic cobbles!?! You philistine! They're part of our history and shouldn't be filled in with tarmac just to make it modern!

Actually Bunny that is exactlly what the LCC did in `Castle Hill` (It`s just behind `Moat House` James Street and at the end of `Castle Street` on the night hand side as you look towards Queen Victorias monument.

The blue cobbles were hundreds of years old and were called `stinkers` because they emitted a fowl stench if broken.

Then one day it was just tarmacked over and with yellow lines too boot.

Given that `Castle Hill` is Liverpools smallest street at 13 yards and once contained a house occupied by the Mayor of the Town (Where Daniel De Foe author of `Robinson Crusoe` was entertained to dinner.....) it did seem a needless act and robbed a visual link to the above tale. :bash:

Big Dig to close more roads

May 20 2006

Daily Post


VISITORS to Liverpool city centre face more road closures and diversions from this weekend because of the Big Dig and the Paradise Street redevelopment.

Skelhorne Street will close between Lime Street and Bolton Street from Sunday for four weeks as part of the City Centre Movement Strategy scheme.

Traffic which currently turns left into Skelhorne Street from Lime Street will be diverted with signs up to the Adelphi Junction, up Copperas Hill and along Bolton Street to access Skelhorne Street.

At the end of the four weeks when Skelhorne Street reopens, it will have changed direction with traffic then heading down the hill towards Lime Street.

Bolton Street will also change direction with traffic heading away from the station towards Copperas Hill.

The £400,000 Skelhorne Street traffic scheme is also installing a bus lane on the section of Lime Street which runs from the Adelphi junction to Skelhorne Street.

Buses and taxis only will be able to use this northbound section of Lime Street with all other traffic directed up Copperas Hill.

Traffic needing access to Lime Street Station or St John's Car Park will travel down Skelhorne Street.

The aim of the four-month scheme is to improve general access to Lime Street Station and to improve road safety in the area.

A new bus stop to serve the airport and ferry terminal will also be installed.

Meanwhile, as the Paradise Project continues, there will be a temporary closure of a section of Paradise Street from this weekend while some key demolition work takes place.

It sounds like an absolute nightmare having to cope with all of this change but I suppose that that is the nuts and bolts of the operation :runaway:

It`s alive, It`s alive I tell you ...........

:eek2:

Make no mistake. The closure of Lime street for northbound traffic, forcing it up Copperas Hill is a very deliberate attempt to create problems for traffic and has nothing to do with road safety.

It was actually an attempt to reduce traffic on lime st, to allow the now defunct tram system to flow more freely through the city.

well, we all know what happened to that..

even Mike Storey, who lead on this project in his past life, has recently admitted that a serious rethink is needed about much of the plans since the death of the tram. the changes would only have been beneficial if there was a comensurate reduction in car use as a result of users of the tram.

without this reduction, i agree that many changes could now create more problems than they solve.

As a pedestrian that walks past that bit of Liverpool on a daily basis I welcome anything that changes the flow of traffic to make it quicker and safer for me to cross. There's lots of roads around Lime Street Street that have poor point of view and no distinct crossings.

Oo er misses. They have just put hoardings up on Lord St depicting in detail the ribons of life project. lots of pics of the sculptures etc.

If anyone with a camera is about, get yer sen doon there jimme

yup.. theyve already torn up the entire road surface outside gap etc.. and what appear to be sections of old tramlines have been dug up too

not sure if this has been posted, but there are now signs all along Edge Lane regarding the works there, and there is also a website...

http://www.edgelane.com/

http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=937&catid=1

Merseytravel’s Traveline has been named Britain’s best travel call centre of its kind for the fourth year running.

It beat 23 other call centres in a “mystery shopper” survey carried out by the Department for Transport and achieved a staggering maximum score of 100% in several areas including friendliness, politeness, helpfulness, efficiency, clarity, accuracy and call ending.

Merseytravel Chief Executive and Director General, Neil Scales, said: ”This is an amazing achievement. There has been a nine per cent increase in call volumes answered in the past year due to a number of factors including a high volume of bus service changes.

“Despite this increase Traveline has maintained its reputation as the best in the country. We do have some highly sophisticated equipment to help our operators but it is the dedication and enthusiasm of the staff that is of paramount importance.”

The Department for Transport twice-yearly survey involves “mystery shoppers” calling for travel advice with the results being gauged on a range of criteria including speed, efficiency, accuracy and courtesy.

The Merseytravel team achieved an overall score of 99% in the latest survey, the highest ever score recorded and the second time Merseyside has achieved it.

Tim Partington, who heads the team and has himself been voted one of the top ten call centre managers in the country, said: “This has truly been a team effort and I’m proud of everyone involved.

“We do have sophisticated equipment including a journey planning service whereby Traveline can tell you exactly how to get from your front door to anywhere in the UK, what form of transport to use and how long that journey will take.

"But nothing beats local knowledge and the personal touch. All of our team travel round the region on public transport. That way they can familiarise themselves with the routes. This is part of our success”

Traveline Merseyside is open 364 days per year with staff answering calls on 0870 608 2 608.

Noticed that the "Ribbons of Life" paving in Lord St is coming along fast. There is a stretch completed along the middle, and it does look great.

Noticed that the "Ribbons of Life" paving in Lord St is coming along fast. There is a stretch completed along the middle, and it does look great.

I looked at the new paving last saturday, and boy its just brilliant, I just hope they will continue up into Clayton Square and along Whitechapel, both areas are looking very delapidated. I was surprised at the depth of the granite setts so far laid, they must be about 300mm deep , much stronger than the crappy pink blocks. With new street furniture ,trees, art and lighting Church and Lord streets are going to look very smart.

http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=937&catid=1

Merseytravel’s Traveline has been named Britain’s best travel call centre of its kind for the fourth year running.

.....

“We do have sophisticated equipment
Traveline Merseyside is open 364 days per year with staff answering calls on 0870 608 2 608.


:wave:
Hello

Good that merseytravel are doing something right, but...

.....whinging tight arse alert! :crazy:

Why does a local travel helpline have a "national" rate number. I think they are in cahoots with the mobile phone firms and BT etc to stop us all geting free calls.

Strand yesterday, they've taken away the raised beds that had plants shrubs and stuff in them and replaced them with plain flagstones, not much of an improvement there!


http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4195/dsc02568pt6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Here's an opportunity to put your ideas into the Big Dig improvements for Whitechapel.


http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/7600/dsc02592id2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I can't believe they've done that on the strand! The little bit of green there was on there softened things up. Seems pointless putting flags down there.

Where abouts will the super crossings be? I suppose you can't really walk through a load of shrubs! Be nice if they plant some trees back there when they're done though.

isnt that big tunnel still getting put in the strand to get you down into paradise street?

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank personally Doug Roberts.

Night after night i check out the Liverpool Skyscraper forums just to find out the latest most intricate of news on the liverpool projects/developments. And without doubt Doug Roberts, whoever he is, time after time comes up with the goods. Great images, great news, informed opinions, even though i do not always agree with them, Doug Roberts always seems to delivery with the very very latest. I must confess myself impressed.

Keep it up Doug, great work.

Fran.



.........................................................................................
www.squible.co.uk

Hear Hear...

He risks life and limb standing in the middle of busy road intersections, on the edge of big building sights, and underneath heavily laden cranes, taking pictures of the developments going on, in and around the city, on a regular basis, so as to keep us all fully informed. Keep up the good work. :cheers:

Hear Hear...

He risks life and limb standing in the middle of busy road intersections, on the edge of big building sights, and underneath heavily laden cranes, taking pictures of the developments going on, in and around the city, on a regular basis, so as to keep us all fully informed. Keep up the good work. :cheers:

Yes I fully agree. I know more of what's going on in Liverpool than my family. What's strange about that you think? They all live in Merseyside and I live in Lancaster.

Keep up the good work Doug :cheers:

Bloody hell, thanks for the comments!! the great thing about SSC is despite people having differences of opinion about one thing or another we are all looking toward a better future for Liverpool because it deserves it.

[QUOTE=franno]I would just like to take this opportunity to thank personally Doug Roberts.

Night after night i check out the Liverpool Skyscraper forums just to find out the latest most intricate of news on the liverpool projects/developments. And without doubt Doug Roberts, whoever he is, time after time comes up with the goods. Great images, great news, informed opinions, even though i do not always agree with them, Doug Roberts always seems to delivery with the very very latest. I must confess myself impressed.

Keep it up Doug, great work.

Fran.

Doug ( whoever you are :) ) What more can I add to Fran`s glowing endorsement of all your great work , well I can only say keep it up, and all the time we spend in various city "watering holes" :scouserd: has not been wasted. Cheers and and enjoy your visit to foreign parts, see you at the Mathew Street Festival on 28th. August. :wave: :applause: :applause:

Bloody hell, thanks for the comments!! the great thing about SSC is despite people having differences of opinion about one thing or another we are all looking toward a better future for Liverpool because it deserves it.


...........................................................


LIVERPOOL DOES DESERVE IT. THIS IS OUR TIME. OUR CITY. OUR VOICE. HEAR US!!!!!!!!!!!


...........................................................
www.squible.co.uk

Bloody hell, thanks for the comments!! the great thing about SSC is despite people having differences of opinion about one thing or another we are all looking toward a better future for Liverpool because it deserves it.

With ScouserDave otherwise occupied.. deadly Doug has stepped forward to fill the mantle with concise and well presented piccies and info on Liverpool developments.

Well done and thanks
:cheers:

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17477747%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=oh%2dlord%2d%2dwhat%2dnow%2d%2d%2d%2d-name_page.html

Oh Lord, what now.. ? Jul 31 2006

By Nick Coligan Political Reporter, Liverpool Echo

HI-TECH TV screens are to be fixed to lampposts along Liverpool's main shopping street as part of its ongoing revamp.

The cylindrical monitors will wrap around posts in Church Street and Lord Street, broadcasting local news updates and coverage of city events.

The latest technology will provide shoppers with 360-degree viewing, rather than the usual flat-screen pictures.

They could even be connected up to the big screen in Clayton Square, which has shown footage of national events including the Queen's birthday.

Council officials are planning to install seven screens and have already held talks with an advertising company over how the set-up would operate.

They will try out the system next month in Church Street to see whether it is popular with the public.

They would then have to get the go-ahead from the council's planning committee before introducing them full-time.

The TV screens are just one element of the 14-month, £5.5m Big Dig scheme to modernise Church Street and Lord Street.

New paving, trees, benches, lighting and bins will also be installed along the length of the two streets.

Work began in May and is already ahead of schedule.

Council planners said they had learned from past mistakes which have left Church Street and Lord Street riddled with cracked, uneven paving.

They have brought in modern building methods to keep them fit for future generations of shoppers.

Instead of the old sand-based way of laying pavements - now said to be little better than the average driveway installation - workmen are using a tough granite and concrete combination.

It means the revitalised streets should not be shattered by the weight of dozens of heavy goods lorries driving over them every day.


Sections of new paving are already in place in Lord Street, and both roads will be completely resurfaced before the finishing touch - the Ribbon of Life - is put in place.

The ribbon will be a strip of either metal or stone winding down the two streets, occasionally forming sculptures.

Church Street's trees were chopped down earlier this year, but their replacements are already growing in a German nursery.

Once mature, they will be shipped over and planted as the project nears completion.

They were chosen because they will grow tall rather than wide - the old plane trees were found to be unsuitable, as their broad canopies obscured shop signs and roots cracked the road surface.

Don't let bulding work stop you from visiting city >>>>>>>>>>>

SHOPPERS visiting Church Street and Lord Street could be forgiven for thinking they have wandered into a metal maze.

As work to transform Liverpool's main shopping area kicks in, some businesses have vanished behind fencing so the old, cracked paving can be ripped up and replaced with granite.

The bad news is that this scheme will carry on for another 12 months.

But the good news is that the £5.5m project does not seem to have badly affected the shops bearing the brunt of the work.

It is in stark contrast to last year's major roadworks scheme in Renshaw Street and Berry Street.

That project prompted uproar from firms including Rapid Hardware, who said trade dipped as customers stayed away from the traffic cones and barriers.

But council officials learned a lesson from that experience and made sure they had shops on side before moving into Church Street and Lord Street.

Every business was asked what their busiest and quietest times of year are - and the works programme was arranged around them.

It means shoe shops like Clarks and Barratts will be left alone during the "back to school" season of August and September.

And while the vast majority of work will stop in December, opticians have said they are happy for it to continue outside their premises - because people do not buy glasses for Christmas.

Karl Speight, from Liverpool's Business Improvement District (Bid), says shops feel involved with the whole process.

He said: "Fourteen months is a long time to have disruption in one of the main shopping streets in the UK, let alone Liverpool.

"But we had to recognise that work was desperately needed to make this area as good as it could be before Liverpool One opens.

"We managed to arrange the least possible amount of disruption to businesses, taking into account their different trading periods. So far, it is going very smoothly, and no one is saying it is causing them a problem."

One of the main reasons for improving Church Street and Lord Street is to make sure trade does not flood out of the traditional shopping area once Liverpool One opens at the end of next year.

Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration, said: "This scheme will make it a more attractive place to work and shop.

"We continue to work closely with businesses, and encourage shoppers to keep coming while the work is going on."

I'm impressed with the speed of work going on to lay the new paving in Church/Lord st, and it looks great when wet. I'm still alarmed at the number of cars and even worse big lorries parking on the pavement in newly paved areas like ropewalks, this is causing the paving to crack and i think offenders should be fined, as there are plenty of parking bays or local car parks... :bash:

I'm impressed with the speed of work going on to lay the new paving in Church/Lord st, and it looks great when wet. I'm still alarmed at the number of cars and even worse big lorries parking on the pavement in newly paved areas like ropewalks, this is causing the paving to crack and i think offenders should be fined, as there are plenty of parking bays or local car parks... :bash:

I totally agree Jux,

I can`t begin to imagine the cost of how much damage they have done to successive city centre pavement revamps over the years.....let`s hope this one (Ribbons of life) is `worth it` and after that the lorries and cars can be given spot fines and pay damages accordingly using CCTV data.

Liverpool is after all going to go through additional rebuilding in the next few years and for some years to come and it will be pointless if each new project tears up the street fabric just laid or previously laid down.

At least the dock sides can take some wear and tear!

Strand yesterday, they've taken away the raised beds that had plants shrubs and stuff in them and replaced them with plain flagstones, not much of an improvement there!


http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4195/dsc02568pt6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Here's an opportunity to put your ideas into the Big Dig improvements for Whitechapel.


http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/7600/dsc02592id2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



..............................................


This is great news, with the Liverpool One project and the Ribbons of Life project going strong, it would be a weakness to not have Whitchapel spruced up a bit to complete the whole area. It would just look unfinished i think, hope this goes ahead.

Will it also have the Ribbon theme, or just the paving i wonder?





www.squible.co.uk

Hm. Strange that they are proposing a Ropewalks-style cobbled effect, when everywhere else in the CCMS zones has had large yorkstone setts.

I thought that the Yorkstone setts were meant to be standard throughout the city centre?

Hear Hear...

He risks life and limb standing in the middle of busy road intersections, :

He sure does, :runaway: and he is not the only one!!!!!!

Last saturday I was waiting for Doug in Coopers (Kingston House) and watching pedestrians trying to cross the Strand/James Street junction and it was frightning . Many people try to ignore the lights and find trafic coming at them in all directions, even those who wait for the "green" find it a dangerous experiance, the buses turning right out of Mann Island find it very amusing to blast their horns at many unsuspecting pedestians, many who could be overseas visitors, end up running for safety.

The so called "SUPER CROSSINGS" cannot come soon enough, people need more time to cross both carrigways at the same time, to avoid the present situation were whole groups are stranded in the central reservation. the crossing must be clearly defined on the road ,not just some studs but white markings and maybe slightyraised above the main carrigway. It must also be said that pedestrians also need to be educated on how to cross the road ( sad but true) safely. I do hope that when the big dig is completed , the city can exert some control on the number of BUS`S that appear to outnumber other traffic by about 10 to 1. I get the impression that since the private bus companys have switched from double to single deckers, the number of bus running around the city has more than doubled.

Hm. Strange that they are proposing a Ropewalks-style cobbled effect, when everywhere else in the CCMS zones has had large yorkstone setts.

I thought that the Yorkstone setts were meant to be standard throughout the city centre?

I don`t think thats the plan Awayo, it looks very much like they are proposing to use the same granite setts that are being laid in Church Street.

If this style is adopted I guess that in the next year or so we will see it extended up into Clayton Sq and along Paradise St to link up with Liverpool One.

What is surprising is the extensive use of small square granite setts, the original plan was to use in large open areas the granite slabs as laid in Williamson Sq. The small granite setts were only to be used in special areas, it could be that the city is not keen on these rather bland slabs and the setts are more suited to give the "heritage" look.

York stone is to used around St Georges Hall and William Brown Street.

I have a habit of crossing the road when the lights are green and the red man is showing, quickly, when there is a decent gap in traffic, but this is dangerous as other people see me crossing and assume all is safe without checking the road, and then cross after me. People can be sheep at times, so i tend not to do it unless there is no further traffic coming, or if an older possible frail of sight person is at the crossing as this could be very dangerous.

I don`t think thats the plan Awayo, it looks very much like they are proposing to use the same granite setts that are being laid in Church Street.

If this style is adopted I guess that in the next year or so we will see it extended up into Clayton Sq and along Paradise St to link up with Liverpool One.

What is surprising is the extensive use of small square granite setts, the original plan was to use in large open areas the granite slabs as laid in Williamson Sq. The small granite setts were only to be used in special areas, it could be that the city is not keen on these rather bland slabs and the setts are more suited to give the "heritage" look.

York stone is to used around St Georges Hall and William Brown Street.

Thanks for the illumination, Woody. Not sure where a got the Yorkstone from. Wasn't this the traditional sidewalk paving material seen throughout Liverpool? Maybe that's why. :dunno:

I too was surprised with the smaller setts seen on the render above, something of a contrast to the bigger ones used in Williamson Square and the Cavern Quarter.

Taxis move out as Whitechapel wins a £1.5m makeover


THE AREA around Liverpool's new Met Quarter is being pedestrianised under plans unveiled today.

City officials want to remove the taxi rank outside the designer complex and ban daytime traffic from that section of Whitechapel. The road will then be refurbished.

The aim of the £1.5m council project is to make sure the city centre's existing shopping streets can compete with the ultra-modern Liverpool One district when it opens in 2008.

Business leaders are keen to stop visitors drifting towards the Paradise Street area and ignoring long-standing shops.

The Whitechapel proposals include:

* Repaving pedestrianised Whitechapel with granite - similar to the Cavern Quarter and Williamson Square - and installing new lights, trees, benches and bins.


* Installing hydraulic bollards so loading and unloading outside shops is restricted to 6pm-10am.


* Moving the taxi rank to Stanley Street. Taxis will then wait next to the Met Quarter, turn at the bottom of Stanley Street and drive out into Victoria Street.


* Shifting Stanley Street's disabled parking spaces to new sites close to shops, such as Victoria Street and St Thomas Street.


Work should start early next year and finish in summer 2007.


Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration, said: "This area has gone through great change in recent months with the Met Quarter opening, so we need to improve the surrounding environment.


"Roadworks in Church Street, Lord Street, the Cavern Quarter and Williamson Square leave Whitechapel as the last piece of the jigsaw.


"Our proposals will improve the look of the area, and make it safer and more accessible."


The plans are part of the council's City Centre Movement Strategy, a £73m project to make it quicker and easier to get around Liverpool.


They go on show at the 08 Place, in Whitechapel, on Wednesday August 9, from 9am to 7pm.

Just popped along to the 08 place to gander at the proposals. Nowt really new there that we didnt know already, apart from the fact that they are working with the Pool Project to incorporate some form of artwork into the idea to show how the old tidal pool used to flow down Whitechapel from the tunnel to Paradise St and beyond.

The idea at present is to present some information/imagery on the benches.

Nice principle, but my feedback has been to suggest upping the ante on the streetart side of the project, to raise the profile of the "pool" artwork.

I alos want to see more staggered and less linear seating arrangements, like in barcelona. I love the randomness of the street furniture there. Looks like they have just dumped chairs out in the street.

Otherwise, quite tidy designs. Its also good that all of Stanley St is getting upgraded too.

O;en til 9 p.m. tonight! Get your feedback in now, as they will not develop the designs until the feedback has been collated.

Actually, its only open til 7. dont go down there later than that and be blaming me 'cos its closed!

Subway to go in revamp of Lime Street



THE subway linking Lime Street station to St John's Centre is to be filled in as part of a major package of works to improve the appearance of Liverpool's main railway station.

The £2m Lime Street Gateway project is being carried out as part of the wider City Centre Movement Strategy (CCMS) and will see a series of changes being made.

The main aim of the Gateway project is to transform the station area into an attractive and modern entrance to the city, featuring new public space and a 28-storey landmark tower.

This includes redesigning the road layout, better street lighting, and making improvements to pedestrian access.

Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool's executive member for regeneration and transport, said: "First impressions are very important.


"This scheme will enhance the appearance of the area in front of the station and present a feeling of arrival".


It will see the creation of additional pedestrian crossings on both Lime Street and Skelhorne Street and reducing the width of the highway. The right turn from Lime Street into the St John's Centre car park will also be permanently blocked off.


Work will start next month and is due to be completed by next March. It is being jointly funded by the council, North West Development Agency, and the European Regional Development Fund.


A report to Liverpool City Council says the removal of the underpass will also reduce anti-social behaviour.


It adds: "The project will open up the area, making it safer and more inviting for pedestrians.


"The improved street lighting will replace some of the current high mast lighting posts, enhance the appearance of the area and improve pedestrian safety.


"The proposed pedestrian crossings will also provide safer and more convenient road crossings.


Schemes recently completed as part of the £73m City Centre Movement Strategy include improvements to Hunter Street and Byrom Street, Renshaw Street and Berry Street, Skelhorne Street, and Seymour Street and Copperas Hill.


Recent changes to traffic movement, parking and loading in this area have all been designed to reduce vehicles in the area in preparation for the Lime Street Gateway Project.

Glad to see they're removing the subway - I've yet to experience a subway system in a major city that I've enjoyed using... it just doesn't feel right being sent underground like moles... send the cars underground I say!

Glad to see they're removing the subway - I've yet to experience a subway system in a major city that I've enjoyed using... it just doesn't feel right being sent underground like moles... send the cars underground I say!

perish the thought they might ever start the actual gateway project.... i think chieftan would be nearly finished by now!! :bash:

perish the thought they might ever start the actual gateway project.... i think chieftan would be nearly finished by now!! :bash:


Why did you have to mention Chieftain again Bustcap.
Very upsetting.
I'm trying to forget that the reasons given to reject Chieftain don't apply to the Gateway scheme. :gaah: :gaah:

Glad to see they're removing the subway - I've yet to experience a subway system in a major city that I've enjoyed using... it just doesn't feel right being sent underground like moles... send the cars underground I say!

Exactly. They just don't work and all of them should be filled in where possible.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17743416%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=city%2dto%2dstep%2dup%2dpressure%2don%2dcars-name_page.html

City to step up pressure on cars Sep 14 2006

By David Higgerson And Sam Lister Daily Post Staff

LIVERPOOL council is aiming to step up its campaign to force motorists off the city's streets, claiming it must act to ward off an estimated 14% rise in traffic over the next five years.

But opponents last night claimed the traffic figures revealed in a new report were "skewed", insisting that the city only faces congestion problems because of the current "Big Dig" programme of regeneration roadworks.

Measures including congestion charging for car users are to be considered as the city looks at ways to tap into the Government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF).

Grants are available from the fund for major transport schemes, but only for cities prepared to impose London-style road user charging schemes on their motorists.

Liverpool council is investigating what impact a growing number of vehicles coming into the city centre will have, and how it could affect the area's economy, air quality and the city's World Heritage site status.

The report, by council executive director Ben Dolan, predicts a 14% increase in Liverpool traffic by 2011, coupled with a 40% increase by 2021. The estimate is more than double the 6% predicted increase for the rest of Merseyside, and much higher than Government goals.

The council says the prediction was made using local traffic counts and national statistics.

It wants to reduce the estimated increase to 7% by introducing a number of measures to stop people using their cars, including encouraging more public transport use.

But business and political leaders last night rounded on the council, insisting it was to blame for the city's congestion problems.

Liverpool's Labour leader Joe Anderson said: "These figures have to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. The congestion in the city at the moment has been absolutely exaggerated by the Big Dig, it is nothing to do with extra cars coming into the city.

"The figures are skewed. I don't think it has been managed well, the same roads seem to be dug up time and again.

"Under normal circumstances in the city congestion just would not be that bad and future predictions would be much lower.

"It would be ridiculous to introduce measures to cut the scheme on this basis."

Mersey Tunnel board member Phil Fleming said: "There used not to be any congestion in the city centre, it was created by the Big Dig.

"It is ironic that there are major schemes under way to bring people into the city but it is difficult for them to actually get here. It defeats the object.

"The city has spent a long time trying to attract investment but it is making it difficult for it to be sustained because of the access problems.

"Congestion charging would not help at all, it would just cause more problems for businesses and visitors to the city.

"The whole thing is a farce." Council chiefs are now resigned to having to introduce road user charging if they want Government help for projects.

The report, signed off by Cllr Peter Millea for the city council, stated: "Areas such as the city centre in particular are facing increasing congestion due to regeneration.

"We are seeking resources to investigate how to manage the demand for travel and therefore reduce congestion." Just six months ago, the area's Local Transport Plan stated that it was not felt congestion problems would be exacerbated to the point of needing congestion charging.

But the new report suggests large-scale public transport schemes could be introduced, including greater capacity on Merseyrail, to offset road user charging.

TIF bids can only contain new ideas, ruling out the possibility of using the programme to relaunch the Merseytram scheme.

The report says: "Analysis of traffic trends as revealed in recent traffic surveys have indicated about a 40% increase in Merseyside traffic from 1996 to 2021.

"With the City Centre traffic predicted to grow by between 12% and 14% between 2006 and 2011 it is likely to experience as much, if not greater, growth up to 2021, as Merseyside as a whole.

"With the planned developments and on-going regeneration in Merseyside this analysis therefore shows it is prudent to now examine road user charging to manage this potential large increase in traffic."

The in-depth investigations will also look at the impact on the economy of congestion charging, particularly if Greater Manchester decides not to go ahead.

However, the Merseyside authorities insist that any road user charging could only be implemented if large-scale public transport schemes are funded first.

Areas to be looked at include enhancement of city centre underground stations.

They are also looking at possible funding of electrifying several railway lines in the region to extend the Merseyrail network.

The bid has now been approved by the Merseyside Strategic Transport Planning Committee, who were told by Murray Grant, head of the Local Transport Plan Support department at Merseytravel, that: "This bid would not commit us to introducing road user charging measures.

"It is not considered that congestion will be a major problem in the short term. However, trends elsewhere suggest rising prosperity and economic activity will lead to increasing demand for travel. This is behind the Government's commitment to a form of national road user charging as the best means of managing increasing demand."

A spokesman for the Forum of Private Business said: "Congestion charging would be a mistake. It is just another tax and puts a heavy burden on businesses."

Cllr Flo Clucas, executive member for economic development, insisted last night there were no plans to bring in congestion charges.

She said: "In order to apply for funding we have to look at congestion charging but there is no intention to apply it.

"This city was built for 800,000 people and there are only around half that so the 14% increase may not necessarily be the case.

"We are doing with the Big Dig what other cities took years to do. There is bound to be an element of congestion but the pain will be more than worth it."

A spokesman for Liverpool Council said: "Liverpool's Big Dig includes hundreds of projects and is not just about roadworks. However, many of the schemes being built inevitably have an impact on the city's roads and disruption is unavoidable.

"The result of the Big Dig will be the creation of 14,000 new jobs and the injection of £3bbn.

"We are heartened by the fact that a recent survey in the city centre found that two thirds of people questioned were supportive of the Big Dig because they recognised the long-term benefits to the city."

davidhiggerson @dailypost.co.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"This city was built for 800,000 people"

Gosh, they have remembered! :runaway:

are they aiming to get back to those heights dya reckon?

Download from the big dig website showing a small render of the proposed revamp for the entrance to James St Station, plus some other items.

BigDigNewsletter 3.pdf (http://www.bigdig.liverpool.gov.uk/Images/BigDigNewsletter3_tcm81-73925.pdf)


The second phase of the Strand CCMS scheme in 2007 will include new street lighting, two new Supercrossings near the James Street junction, and the demolition of the pedestrian footbridge.

James Street station to get new look
Jan 6 2007

A COMMUTER interchange is to undergo a £1.5m overhaul to make it a more pleasant for passengers.

Transport officials want to improve the appearance of James Street train station and bus stops, which are expected to become busier once the Paradise Street and Kings Dock developments are finished.

The station will be renovated with a new canopy, kiosk, toilets and ramp. Outside more bus stops will be created with paving cut away in a herringbone style to allow vehicles to pull in safely off the road.

Neil Scales, chief executive of Merseytravel, said: “It is an important gateway and it is not the best entry point into the network at the moment.

“It is all part of creating a single integrated network but we brought this part forward so it would be ready before Liverpool 1 opens.”

It is part of the City Centre Movement Strategy but is funded by Merseytravel and a planning application will be submitted in a few weeks.

The highway project will be managed by the council and will use CCMS contractors to carry out the works.

Cllr Peter Millea, executive member for regeneration and transport, said: “People were asking why we stopped the right turn from The Strand into James Street, well this is it.

“We are making it easier for buses to stop as well as nicer place for passengers.”

Welcome to the £1.5m Whitechapel Boulevard
Jan 6 2007
By Larry Neild

THE facelift of Liverpool city centre’s main shopping streets enters a new phase on Monday when work starts on the transformation of Whitechapel.

A tree-lined pedestrian boulevard will replace the current street scene.

The upgrade of Whitechapel and adjoining Stanley Street will cost £1.5m and is part of the much bigger £73m City Centre Movement Strategy.

The strategy is a project backed by Liverpool City Council, Merseytravel, and Liverpool Vision to improve the roads and public areas of the city centre, in what is the biggest ever programme of street works.

Work is already underway on upgrading Church Street and Lord Street with a £5.5m project, running on time and on budget, and this is being extended to include part of Whitechapel and Stanley Street. Both schemes are due to be completed by this summer.

The improvements include pedestrianising the area outside the newly-opened designer shopping centre, the Metquarter and making Whitechapel a pedestrian zone between Sir Thomas Street and Church Street. Hydraulic bollards are being installed to prevent vehicles from entering between 10am and 6pm.

The new pedestrian zone will be repaved with the same high quality granite that is now in the Cavern Quarter and Williamson Square, with new street lighting, trees, benches and bins.

There will also be changes to loading and parking in the area with loading restricted to between 6pm and 10am, to fit in with all the adjoining pedestrian areas, and a new loading bay will be provided on Stanley Street.

Following talks with the Taxi Association, the taxi rank in Whitechapel outside the Metquarter is to be moved to Stanley Street.

Taxis will enter Stanley Street from Victoria Street, wait alongside the Metquarter, and then turn at the bottom of Stanley Street and exit back on to Victoria Street.

Consultation was also carried out with all the businesses and retailers in the immediate area, involving contractor, Balfour Beatty, to discuss loading requirements.

The disabled parking currently along Stanley Street will be moved to new sites in the area.

The work will be carried out in sections, similar to the work along Church Street and Lord Street, with the first phase on the Boots side of Whitechapel from Church Street to Stanley Street.

Cllr Peter Millea, Liverpool City Council's executive member for Regeneration, said: "This scheme will complete the city centre pedestrian improvements which began with Williamson Square and the Cavern Walks and continued with Church Street and Lord Street.

“We will work closely with all retailers and businesses around Whitechapel and Stanley Street to minimise disruption as we improve and upgrade the area.”

The first programme of works in CCMS including the transformation of Williamson Square won a National Transport Award for Walking and the Public Realm and was highly commended in the Local Government News awards, and was commended in the Civic Trust Awards.

Excellent news, I noticed they are both due for completion in the summer this year. Looks like the council have pulled their finger out for once and this area has needed doing for such a long time! Does anyone else think Queens Sq is looking tired? I think the buildings around there are good but the pavings are dating already. they should use the granite they have used elsewere. Except actual QS, were the cobbles are quite nice, just Hood St/Roe St. I wouldnt mind a few trees placed outside the Info centre were there is quite a lot of space. kind off a Piccadilly garden effect if you know the bit im taking about?

Half of Queen Square should be ripped down and given to a developer with balls.

i agree, the whole area from clayton square/lime st/kumar brothers right through to queens square needs a rethink. The buildings in queen sq are far to small and are very dated now. They represent the time in which they were built, dominated by a crashed economy and goverment/european hand outs.

The Marriot hotel is ok, however, the two/3 storey burger kings and bars and the waste of the space between the travel centre and williamson square with what looks like an speke retail park escapee just wont do and needs to be addressed.

It would be good if Land Securities bought into queens square too.....imagine how great that area would be if the back of Marks and Spencers potential is realised, the Liverpool store and Iceland are cleared away and some density is brough back to Williamson square/whitechapel and the intersection with queens square. This would be a real welcome to the city and a more befitting continuation to the 'cultural' quarter around lime st.

Liverpool's biggest problem however still remains the same:

ST JOHNS CENTRE!

I would like to see a single big scheme across the entire rear of M&S, not the cheap crap render that is up now, and demolish the retail sheds to create a bigger open space. The displaced stores could easily fit within the expanded city centre. This would allow a bigger space for those continental markets and more seating to relax. The travel/tourist bit is ok i would keep that due to that being a main bus stop.

what about a park, sink the roads, relocate the bus stop, and create a nice inner city park that we say we want soo much, we cud have nice resturants spilling out onto it, cafes, bar, it will be all nice and not look horrible like it does at the moment. It would be like an extension to the gardens at the rear of St Georges hall.

Alternatively, get a great, inspring peice of architecture to go here, doesnt have to be a tower, getting fed up of that fact that everything we want has to be a tower, it just has to look nice and serve a good purpose. What exactly they could put here i dont know, we have enough shops, well wen L1 is done, we have enough apartments and i cant think of much else. So yeh, bars, cafes and restaurants, and some type of building where queens square is now. All nice and modern, doesnt have to be inkeeping, but eyecatching

EDIT: Sony centre, big fountain or spectacular water feature, not the piddiling fountains in williamson square, places for the european market to set up, but not a perminant featuer. Just throwing some ideas around

Alternatively, get a great, inspring peice of architecture to go here, doesnt have to be a tower, getting fed up of that fact that everything we want has to be a tower, it just has to look nice and serve a good purpose.

Spot on dups, just look at the shiny new blocks we are getting at Mann Island:lol: an immediate improvement to this area would be a reduction in bus movements, ( oh were is the tram:ohno: ) Lime st, St Johns and Qeens Sq. is overun with half empty bus`s. The sooner that ALL bus`s come under one unified command the better, maybe then we could see a better distribution of routes and not the chaos we have today.

How about, getting rid of the shead, and relocating the buses to somewhere else, i dont know where, the logistics of it can be thought of by someone else!

Anyway back to my plan, get rid of the shed, knock down the marriot and queen square area. Sink the road...or just get rid of it. Then build the cloud on all this land...wouldnt that look spectacular walking out of the station. Instead of being "offices and apartments" it could be the new liverpool library...considering i dont even no wer he old one is, shows how prominent that one was! If not the library then a museum? or something else which the public can use, and i dont mean a bowling alley or ice rink there!

THen landscape the area outside, not necessarily with grass, maybe something along the line off...hmmm...the square outside the arndale in manchester...i like that....with water features etc and a big screen

Get the playhouse sorted so it looks all prittyful. Get rid of the back end of marks and sparks for them to make their dazzaling new rear? enterance, whichever u want to call it. Then on either side we need classy restaurants, bars, cafes, maybe even a pub or 2....not a discount clothes shop.

St Johns tower can be reclad somehow, again the logistics aint my decision. Just looked at woodys post. Get rid of the busses and then install the trams, that wud be swell. Give St JOhns a nice fresh reclad, get a good few names in there to support it well and give it a good footfall

Then sort out limestreet, i think scouser yuppie mentioned we should build the cheiftan scheme and use the money from the gateway tower to sort out the station itself, it really is a cold miserable place to be, return it to its former glory, i think so. But dont make it trashy and modern, we want something unique, not something u get wen u get off the train at any half decent station

Get rid of the holiday inn, its fugly.

But yeh, do all this and that part of time might look a bit nicer :D

(oh and id quite like a hardrock cafe in that old cinema that jamie carragher was linked with :D

I just receivec an email from Liverpool Vision in response to an enquiry made last week.

I contacted them because I was worried that the sculptures would no longer form part of the ribbons of life project on church st/lord st, following idiotic grumblings about health and safety by the planning commitee.

They assured me that the sculptures would still be going down once the paving had been completed.

This should ensure that we don't get an identicit shopping drag.

Also, Church Alley is now almost done. The trees went in last week and the paving has been finished. Looks really smart, though I thought Church Alley was going to get benches too. Maybe they come later.

Hey Buggedboy - thanks for this! I've been really stressing about this lately, as it seemed that they had just suddenly dropped off all the plans and blurb about the redevelopment, I was genuinely worried we'd loose them - especially after that whoohar about health and safety nonsense.

What made me even more suspicious was when they actually removed one of the sculptures they'd put in! Really hope they keep this scheme as this city needs more not less public art... (plus they look funky!)

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/144/imgp1953ie6.jpg
That patch of tarmac is where the first piece went in, and then was removed a week later..

I see the 360 tele thing is in by the Schuh and looks cool

I see the 360 tele thing is in by the Schuh and looks cool

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9866/imgp3164nh1.jpg

Looks good - wonder how much power it consumes though, you can hear it humming half way down the street....

thats the one tom looks good

the people in the pic look happy

thats the one tom looks good

the people in the pic look happy

It's Church Street, no one's happy to be in Church Street, ever.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9866/imgp3164nh1.jpg

Looks good - wonder how much power it consumes though, you can hear it humming half way down the street....

Tom this is the first of 5 units destined for Church / Lord Streets, the planning committee is to have a "site visit" next tuesday, if they like what they see and hear the other 4 units will be approved. The broadcast units will have Culture Company pro-mos for 40 minutes in each hour with 20 minutes of advertising.

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/9866/imgp3164nh1.jpg

Looks good - wonder how much power it consumes though, you can hear it humming half way down the street....

Those scallies look like they're about to accost you TOM!

Check out that kid's scowl. He must get some serious tension headaches.

Check out that kid's scowl. He must get some serious tension headaches.

Scowl? No way, I'd actually say they are the two happiest looking scallies in the city!

So the ribbons are still going in, thats very good news, it is such a unique idea. Im assuming they are going to be inplace by CoC?

I assume they will be dups as the paving work won't take too long to finish now - can't wait to see these go up, it's about time we had some decent public sculpture in this city (Capital of What?)

It'ss be dont in the summer. You can see where they have periodically left certain areas unpaved in readiness for the sculptures.

I'd say July for completion, just to be on the safe side. They really are making great progress now, following the lull over Xmas. I'd say they were about 80% finished.

Roadworks to end on Edge Lane
Dec 14 2007 by Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

DELAYS on one of the main routes into Liverpool will stop in time for Christmas.

The suspension of roadworks will temporarily end 18 months of traffic misery for motorists using Edge Lane, the road linking the city centre and the M62.



http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2007/12/14/roadworks-to-end-on-edge-lane-100252-20249796/

I am impressed by the new look of Edge lane, the paving, road and lighting, the flyover looks great also. I do hope that the housing at the city centre end stays though, refurbish restore, and don't force another motorway to split the city in half.

I do hope that the housing at the city centre end stays though, refurbish restore, and don't force another motorway to split the city in half.

I think the removal of those houses is a necessary evil Juxty. Whether we like it or not, Edge Lane is the main route by road into the city. When it reaches Botanic Park it becomes a bottle-neck. The road simply can't handle the traffic travelling along it. No matter how many changes or calming measures you might introduce along that section, the Durning Road junction is never going to provide the desired capacity. The road simply must be widened here, there's no other way around it. I appreciate comments about introducing another 'motorway' to our city, but when done properly like further up Edge Lane, it looks anything but like a motorway. No-one is doubting that it will see the demolition of some housing that is still in good condition, and no doubt has more charm than what will likely replace it along the new road. However there are towns and cities around the country that people simply won't venture into because their main access roads are so difficult for drivers to use. (Warrington is one place I refuse to go to for that very reason). Do we really want Liverpool to suffer the same fate?

This is Stanley St / Victoria St junction, the new paving in Stanley St is good , but were it meets the "bad and ugly" it does need sorting........

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4778/20071216200716dec0057sk8.jpg

The Christmas lights have been swapped for these colour co-ordinated banners, I think they look great. The look and feel of Church/Lord St seems very different especially when you take in the top end of Paradise St.


http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/773/p1010487jx9.jpg

Doug thanks for the photo, I like the banners ,just hope they havn`t removed those cute blue lights from the trees.

I wasn't so sure about them when I saw them this morning. Each set has a theme relating to CoC - people, maritime, music, the arts, sport etc which is good though.

City faces four-month traffic headache

Jan 23 2008 by Luke Traynor, Liverpool Echo

MORE traffic chaos could hit Liverpool city centre when a busy junction closes for nearly four months.

The Lord Street/North John Street junction will shut on Sunday to improve transport access to the Liverpool One development.

Bus stops will be put outside the new Debenhams shop, and there will be new traffic signals and improved pedestrian crossings.

The council says it will allow changes to be made before the introduction of two way traffic between Victoria Street and Lord Street. The work is due to take 14 weeks and could cause headaches for motorists and bus users.

Buses will be diverted along Castle Street and Cook Street where there will be temporary bus stops.

Pay-and-display parking in Cook Street will be suspended during this time.

Cllr Mike Storey, executive member for regeneration, said: “This work is essential as part of the overall scheme.

“We are working closely with local businesses to keep them informed about progress and listening to their views.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/01/23/city-faces-four-month-traffic-headache-100252-20384055/


I'm not sure this is as a big a problem as the Echo is suggesting it could be. Compared to some of the other projects forming The Big Dig, this seems relatively minor both in terms of inconvenience (a short diversion), and in terms of timescale (less than four months). As far as I can see, this junction isn't heavily used by normal traffic anyway - it's more frequently used by buses - so I don't see this causing a lot of trouble.

I'm not sure this is as a big a problem as the Echo is suggesting it could be. Compared to some of the other projects forming The Big Dig, this seems relatively minor both in terms of inconvenience (a short diversion), and in terms of timescale (less than four months). As far as I can see, this junction isn't heavily used by normal traffic anyway - it's more frequently used by buses - so I don't see this causing a lot of trouble.

I think the trouble will be in Cook Street and maybe before that in Castle street with Buses backing up down James Street, it's not a big bit of road from Cook street to James street and i think it will get clogged up quite quickly.

^^

Possibly Phil, but with Pay and Display being suspended on Cook Street for the duration, it should help make sure vehicles can flow down Cook street unimpeded. I suppose it's the tone of the article I wasn't keen on. No-one is denying that some aspects of The Big Dig have caused untold levels of inconvinience, but I think it's generally been worth it. Where works have been completed, traffic flows much better, and the new paving and street furniture in various parts of the city centre looks great. I think the end has justified the means in most cases, and now most work forming The Big Dig is complete, I'm surprised the Echo is still reporting on the remaining projects with negative headlines.

^^

Possibly Phil, but with Pay and Display being suspended on Cook Street for the duration, it should help make sure vehicles can flow down Cook street unimpeded. I suppose it's the tone of the article I wasn't keen on. No-one is denying that some aspects of The Big Dig have caused untold levels of inconvinience, but I think it's generally been worth it. Where works have been completed, traffic flows much better, and the new paving and street furniture in various parts of the city centre looks great. I think the end has justified the means in most cases, and now most work forming The Big Dig is complete, I'm surprised the Echo is still reporting on the remaining projects with negative headlines.

I agree but that's the Echo for you, i just wish they would inforce the Bus/Taxi lanes better:ohno:

From the Echo -


Report slams big dig road turmoil

MOTORISTS are still in the dark about why £73m was spent digging up Liverpool’s roads, an inquiry has found.

The long-awaited report said more work should be done to tell drivers the reasons behind the two-year council project, which paralysed parts of the city centre.

It also claimed many commuters were confused about which traffic queues were the council’s responsibility and which were the fault of developers or utilities companies.

Liverpool council launched an investigation into its City Centre Movement Strategy (CCMS) last year to find out if it was worth the hassle it caused.

The project was aimed at diverting vehicles out of the middle of Liverpool and creating better city centre access for motorists and pedestrians.

Millions of pounds were spent on areas including The Strand, Lime Street, Renshaw Street and Berry Street, adding extra lanes, improving central reservations and replacing pavements.

But in their final report, councillors said there was still “confusion” about what CCMS was about.

They also called for the quick introduction of CCTV cameras to enforce bus lane rules and better coordination of utilities work to avoid continuous roadworks.

Cllr Stuart Monkcom, chairman of the CCMS scrutiny panel, said: “We agreed with the aims and objectives of CCMS, but there has been confusion over it.

“It is often difficult for people to distinguish between CCMS and the rest of the Big Dig.”

Some CCMS projects came in for criticism, particularly the 12-month Renshaw Street scheme, blamed by department store Lewis’s for its near collapse last year.

Cllr Nick Small, opposition spokesman on regeneration, said: “I do not think this issue was explored adequately in the report.

“The other major problem with CCMS was the council’s year-zero mentality about 2008 and wanting to get everything finished, rather than thinking about its legacy.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/02/14/report-slams-big-dig-road-turmoil-100252-20475298/

Do people have their head buried in the sand? How can anyone not be aware of what the CCMS has achieved? If you regularly drive in the city, then chances are you will have been caught up in the traffic problems the CCMS has caused. However you should also have been able to see the benefits that it has delivered on a number of the city's roads. Now, whether you feel the upheavel was justified by it's results is another matter, but surely no one can claim they don't know what it has acheived?

I totally agree. I asked a colleague how stupid actually are the people of this city (me included) if we dont know what the CCMS/Big Dig is. Frankly if no-one has noticed it or all of the constant streaming of info regarding its hoped benefits, then we may as well all pack our bags and give up on the place.

I know, lets spend even more money on telling people what its about, so that in the end we can't bloody afford to do any actual work.

After today, I'm starting to appreciate the Chinese approach to development.

e.g. THIS IS WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. WEVE DECIDED ITS BEST SO ID WATCH OUT FOR THAT JCB IF I WERE YOU.

ggr.. Right, calming down now.

Cllr Monkcom

Fernurpp!

I don't drive into town very often but I have to say I'm sick of this shit!! cones everywhere, pavements blocked off, pedestrians risking walking in the roadway, especially visitors. Yesterday lunchtime the Strand was gridlocked and down to one lane. Although there was a gang laying some blackstuff very little else seemed to be happening. This needs to be finished now!!

And please no-one tell me there's no gain without pain, that buzz phrase sounded believable 2 years ago!!

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9249/p1010658io7.jpg


http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6675/p1010657mk1.jpg


http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/777/p1010660jh0.jpg

I think this is the final spurt of roadworks which are needed, and once done pedestrians will have lots of space. I did notice the big tailback of traffic caused by the roadworks at James St, and it must be horrible to get caught in it, moving very slow. The main problem seemed to be the right turn into Albert dock, i noticed this effectively blocked all traffic behind, until a few could turn right, maybe this should have been closed.

I think this is the final spurt of roadworks which are needed

My thoughts exactly. I don't think anyone can deny that Doug's photos clearly show The Strand is a complete mess at the minute. But to use an analogy, I feel we've come around the last bend, and are now burning down the home straight. Of course it would have been nice of this could have been completed sooner, but it's not exactly like the city has been sitting back for the last few years. We've tolerated it for a good few years now. I'm sure the city can put up with it for just a few more months while the finishing touches are completed.

Doug im sorry but its true... no pain, no gain.

Im sure once all this crap is over we will be able to reap the benefits and im sure we will see them outweighing the issues we've had over the last 2 yrs.

Well what i say is you can't make an omlette without breaking an egg.... yes it does not look the best and is creating some challenges... however it is an improvement to the city's road and pavement network. :nuts:

Looking at this shot, wonder if they will improve the pavement/wall/dockside area, maybe open it up by shifting the wall outwards, and create more space to relax there. It's also a bit of an ankle breaker of an area to walk along what with the uneven cobbles.
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/777/p1010660jh0.jpg

Looking at this shot, wonder if they will improve the pavement/wall/dockside area, maybe open it up by shifting the wall outwards, and create more space to relax there. It's also a bit of an ankle breaker of an area to walk along what with the uneven cobbles.
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/777/p1010660jh0.jpg

Is the whole of The Strand (it's not actually officially called that is it?) being narrowed ?
Seems odd to narrow it here and not really do so to any appreciable extent at Mann Island.

I hate this useless piece of tarmac almost as much as Winston's Flyover.

THE big dig in Boston took 15 years and the freeway work near my house took 6 so this may not be as bad as it feels - (easy for me to say from 5500 mile away )

As for cobbles they need to lay some flat routes - my Mums in a wheelchair and her teeth don't stay in longer than five yards bumping over that stuff.

The paving opposite the Pelli building is going down rapidly, looks good, and they have installed some trendy new lamposts, which i hadn't noticed before, sorry no photo though...:bash:

They can bee seen above on one of Dougs photos in post 181 2nd photo down.

From the Echo -

WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE STRAND-ED AGAIN

Mar 18 2008 by Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

ONE of Liverpool’s busiest streets will again be hit by roadworks over the Easter weekend.

The Strand will be reduced to one lane in each direction while the southbound carriageway is resurfaced.

Highways officials are bracing themselves for congestion across the city centre.

Liverpool One developer Grosvenor has donated £5,000 towards special police patrols at four key traffic junctions in The Strand and Lime Street to keep vehicles moving.

The four-day scheme is said to be “the beginning of the end” of long-running roadworks to prepare The Strand for the opening of Liverpool One on May 29.

But opposition councillors criticised the decision to close much of the street, which runs past the Three Graces, over the Easter holiday.

Cllr Paul Brant, deputy Labour opposition leader, said: “It is staggering the council has not programmed this work to be completed before Capital of Culture year.

“The Easter period is one of the biggest tourism weekends for the city, and yet we look like a building site. Let’s hope these roadworks can be completed speedily and the gridlock relieved.”

More here - http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/03/18/we-re-all-going-to-be-strand-ed-again-100252-20638514/

The paving opposite the Pelli building is going down rapidly, looks good, and they have installed some trendy new lamposts, which i hadn't noticed before

Let's hope Maghull don't buy that pavement over the weekend and rip it up next Thursday for a planning-pending 62-star boutique massage parlour.

FURY,FURY RAGE AAAAARGGGH....! or maybe not...! (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/03/24/fury-over-easter-gridlock-on-city-s-roads-64375-20665275/)

So were there masses of Tourists all in their cars along the strand this Easter in Fury, or is Easter usually a quiet time with a lot less traffic along the Strand, (not talking about the M6 on a Thur/Friday, or a working business day).

There were no big events on...!

Reading that article, it doesn't sound to me like most motorists were too concerned. A little inconvenienced? Of course. Furious? Erm, no.

Show me your average car full of family tourists in a new city who aren't confused by roadworks or a bit hot under the collar from kids messing around on a long journey. The fella with the TomTom seemed totally oblivious to all the fury. Most locals will have avioded the Strand, like me, as the roadworks were well publicised, and shame on any local who got caught in it then complained.

I have driven through many times, and it hasn't bothered me once, apart from the minor nuisance of those lanes which turn up as closed as you approach the lights, and you have to pull into another lane.

Currently the left lane is great as a lot of people don't use it, (middle lane motorway syndrome), and you can get through from Leeds St all the way past Mann Island and past PSDA fairly well, watching all the tightly packed right laners near Pelli signalling to get into the left lane as they realise too late someone ahead turning right into Albert dock is slowing their progress.

You can't make an omlette without smashing some eggs!!!

The following application has been submitted -

Application Number - 08DC/0817
Site Address - Church Street/Lord Street, Liverpool, L2
Proposal - To install 2 no. sculptural artwork pieces

Could this finally be the appearance of the artwork that was due to be installed when the new paving was originally laid?

Also, this application has been submitted by LCC to itself in effect, which is fine so everything remains official and above board. But could someone suggest a reason why our council is using an agent operating out of Quay Street in Manchester to handle the application? Are there no agents in Liverpool that could do it?

I have been short-listed for 2 jobs with Liverpool Council. Both recruitments were handled by organisations that did not have offices in Liverpool. I attended one interview in Manchester and one in Leeds.

I have been short-listed for 2 jobs with Liverpool Council. Both recruitments were handled by organisations that did not have offices in Liverpool. I attended one interview in Manchester and one in Leeds.

That used to happen to me a lot, it's not as bad as it used to be, a lot of agency's now have a Liverpool office.:)

The following application has been submitted -

Application Number - 08DC/0817
Site Address - Church Street/Lord Street, Liverpool, L2
Proposal - To install 2 no. sculptural artwork pieces

Could this finally be the appearance of the artwork that was due to be installed when the new paving was originally laid?

Also, this application has been submitted by LCC to itself in effect, which is fine so everything remains official and above board. But could someone suggest a reason why our council is using an agent operating out of Quay Street in Manchester to handle the application? Are there no agents in Liverpool that could do it?

Having two bigger pieces instead of many smaller ones is consistent with what the lady from LV told me about six months ago. Glad to see it's still on track. :)

Not sure where to post this. Those new revolving advertising signs in Church Street are far too noisy. Have they always been this noisy? I thought I'd walked past them before when they were newer and don't remember them being so noisy. It would be better not to have them than put up with that noise.

Also, junction of Church Street and Lord Street needs a fountain in it, in my opinion. It is a featureless expanse of paving.

I’m guessing that one of the two installations is going there. I really wish they had retained the larger number of smaller sculptures. As it stands whilst a significant improvement on the old Church St paving, you cannot actually identify any coherent theme to the thing and the delivery was a little ropey in parts too.
For example, they got the whole tree pit thing completely wrong. The tree pits were supposed to be darker to correspond with the darker paving and visa versa. Unfortunately they seem to have done it the wrong way around.

Not sure where to post this. Those new revolving advertising signs in Church Street are far too noisy. Have they always been this noisy? I thought I'd walked past them before when they were newer and don't remember them being so noisy. It would be better not to have them than put up with that noise.

Also, junction of Church Street and Lord Street needs a fountain in it, in my opinion. It is a featureless expanse of paving.

I agree on both points there. I find those revolving advertising signs quite intrusive and annoying, and part of the noise coming from them appears to be the buzz of a zillion watts of electricity being used to power them. Harldy a very 'carbon conscious' approach from the council there...

A fountain would be great between Church Street and Lord Street. The new paving scheme, although an excellent improvement, does leave us with a hell of a lot of bare open pavement. In the original design the large number of small ribbon sculptures broke this expanse up and provided visual relief and genuine interest. Since loosing them the council has totally failed to do anything vaguely inspired with the space, another case of nibby nonsense ruining an otherwise excellent public realm improvement. (Probably why we couldn't have a fountain as there's a small chance that some random child will throw itself in and drown in a few inches of water) :bash:

I thought I'd check Google Earth to see how Liverpool One was progressing but the aerial photos are waaaaaaay out of date and the landscapes are not much better.

I'm surprised a few enterprising SSC photographers (hint hint) haven't slipped a few updated piccies onto Google. AFAIK they don't remove copyright marks as long as it matches the posters name.

Try Windows Live Local. It's still not completely up-to-date, but for most of the city it uses images that are far more recent than those used by Google Earth.

The planning application relating to the two pieces of sculptural artwork has been updated. One will be located at the junction of Church Street and Lord Street. The other will be located at the junction of Hanover Street, Church Street and Bold Street.

So replacing the horse statue (which was scheduled to go on duke st) and on the Paradise St junction. I would have liked on on the spot where the podium was but that gets saved for the xmas tree.

Liverpool pubs breathe sigh of relief

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=59851

Around 60 Liverpool pubs and bars have breathed a collective sigh of relief after a deal was struck to avoid completely cutting off two streets for major road works.

United Utilities wrote to businesses in Liverpool city centre last Friday to announce a wave of street closures that could have seen some operators left without supplies for up to a week.

Liverpool City Council pushed through the work, expected to last until May, on a large water main to supply Liverpool One, a major new shopping centre.

It was feared that customers would have restricted acces to the popular late night venues of Fleet Street and Wood Street and that there would be no delivery or emergency service access to the area.

At an emergency meeting held last Friday, Peter Jones of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce persuaded United Utilities to be more sympathetic to the needs of businesses in the area.

The roads will now only close during the day and all deliveries will be allowed.

”Thanks to the sterling efforts of Peter Jones at the Liverpool Chamber this matter has now been resolved.” said British Beer and Pub Association northern secretary Lee Le Clerq.

”United Utilities will now only close the road in the day time, but will facilitate deliveries and waste removal. At night they will restore the road to allow access for emergency services.”

Out of interest, does anyone know how the re-jig of the Lord Street/North John Street junction is going? Photos on here from a number of weeks ago showed good progress. It'll have to be done before the 29th May, so has it come on any further?

No photos, but yep, it's chugging along quite nicely. You can walk on both sides of the road now, albeit through a maze of barriers. It's good because you can get a great view of inside Debenhams and down SJS.

Considering they have six weeks to get it sorted, there's plenty of slack in their timetable.

Almost 2 months on since my last rant about the 'Big Dig' and not a great deal seems to have changed, ok the traffic was moving a bit quicker, 8mph instead of 5mph. but still a lot of cones and stuff.

BTW the staircase from where those pics are taken must be one of the shittiest in Britain, the rubbish and filth are disgusting, I half expect to see a dead wino up there, I shudder to think of what goes on there at night.



http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/807/p1010797vz3.jpg



http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7914/p1010798fq2.jpg

Good update shots, i keep checking the new paving on the river side of Strand, which doesn't seem have progressed, but it's visible the centre and near paving works have.

The major works at front of Pelli are probably necessitating lane closed.

That x-road section will need re tarmacing i guess.

Doug, if you mean the staircase next to the ol'd Coopers building, That bastard is not only grim, but is holding up the development of the entire block.

The stairs are owned by a company in London who are fighting a LV led CPO to get the whole site developed.

Greedy bastards.

Still it'll look good when it's finished. Hopefully it'll be ready for city of Culture in 2009. Oh wait...

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a366/robinsonworld/Liverpool/P1010361.jpg

Must have been a rush for that one, or at least I should of got it straight, oops!

^^

Nice. The removal of the old footbridge has really opened up the vista along The Strand. That shot also shows what an impact Princes Dock 3 A would have. It's a shame that project is looking incresingly questionable.

Also. I know it may be a little pointless currently, but does anyone else think there are justifiable reasons for the whole of The Strand to be jet-washed? All the new paving etc is great, but when you have a dusty grey road surface, caked in dirt, it doesn't look very good. Jet-washing won't return a true black surface, but it would help.

Almost 2 months on since my last rant about the 'Big Dig' and not a great deal seems to have changed, ok the traffic was moving a bit quicker, 8mph instead of 5mph. but still a lot of cones and stuff.



http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/807/p1010797vz3.jpg



Doug, not sure how you will take this:ohno: but the 3 Year Transportation Capital Programme ,covering 2008/9 to 2010/11 has been approved by the city. A big chunk of the £107m with be for CCMS schemes around the city centre................

Castle Street, phase 1, £0.657m 08/09
phase 2, £4.299m 09/10

The Strand, phase 1, £0.936m 08/09 & 09/10
phase 2, £4.0m 09/10

Parker Street / Elliot Street, £2.500m 09/10

Victoria Street / Stanley Street, £0.900m 09/10/11

Dale Street / Water Street £3.000m 09/10/11

Just a few "highlights " of future big dig jobs that will continue for the next 3 years.

Im pleased the Castle St/Derby Square project still going through, as well as the much needed upgrade of Parker St/Elliot St. I just wish it was done sooner to be honest and would have quite happily spent the last 5 years in a hard hat.

Im pleased the Castle St/Derby Square project still going through, as well as the much needed upgrade of Parker St/Elliot St. I just wish it was done sooner to be honest and would have quite happily spent the last 5 years in a hard hat.

Yes BB its good news, and maybe the delay in some of the above could prove to be very fortunate if ( and its a big if ) the Merseytram gets the nod.

Is Parker Street the awful stretch in front of Clayton Square?

Yep. It leads past TX Maxx up to the steps. A bit miffed it won't start on site until 2009, but I suppose it'll slot into the St Johns Centre timetable, so that most of it will be done by the time the main centre gets underway.

Not quite CCMS related, but close enough -

Dock Road to close for a year

Apr 30 2008 by Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

TRAFFIC will be banned from a long section of Liverpool’s busy dock road for up to a year.

Liverpool council and Mersey Docks and Harbour officials made the decision after finding the metal bridge at Stanley Dock was badly corroded and needed urgent repair.

But it means the road between the junctions with Paisley Street and Blackstone Street will be shut for up to 12 months for normal motorists, starting this Friday.

It will be open for businesses but cars will not be allowed into Waterloo Road from the junction near the Costco store, or into Regent Road from the Blackstone Street junction, in Vauxhall.

The decision was today condemned by some councillors, who said it was a further blow to commuters already struggling with roadworks on the Strand.

A council spokesman said: “There will be disruption to traffic, but safety is paramount and surveys have shown it is necessary for this bridge to have work carried out to it.”

The bridge, part of the Stanley Dock conservation area and Liverpool’s World Heritage site, was built in the 1930s.

It is the only surviving example of a rolling bascule lifting bridge in Liverpool.

Cllr Paul Brant, deputy Labour opposition leader, said: “The logjam of the city centre will only worsen as this vital route from the north is closed off.

“With the Strand narrowed from the south and the failure to deliver the Edge Lane widening from the east, visitors to Liverpool can expect to spend lots of extra time frustrated in their cars.”

From here - http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/04/30/dock-road-to-close-for-a-year-100252-20841021/

I like the way that Labour are trying to make political capital out of this. The bridge needs work - simple as. We can't just allow it's condition to worsen because it will cause some traffic problems to close the road during works. The reference to Edge Lane is also being economical with the truth as well. There are well publicised issues relating to Edge Lane, so I think it's not entirely accurate to claim that there has been a failure to deliver. It's not for the want of trying.

So Brant is saying that under his party's stewardship, he will allow this historic bridge to further corrode, become increasingly hazardous and subsequently collapse potentiall causing loss of life. Marvellous. It's tough making unpopular but necessary decisions. Let's hope they don't get the opportunity to demonstrate this.

It might still be full of traffic cones, but this section of the Strand looks much better now that the bridge has gone and the trees are in leaf..........

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc242/woody43/Liverpoolvisit24May08048.jpg

Looking down James Street.............

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc242/woody43/Liverpoolvisit24May08045.jpg

The new Lord Street / North John Street junction...........

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc242/woody43/Liverpoolvisit24May08042.jpg

This photo is dedicated to Doug Roberts, a cone free street:banana:

Woody, thank you for the dedication of the 'cone free street' not before time though eh!!:)


But there's always an opportunity, well done to this bloke, I'm right off into town to buy one!!

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/capital-of-culture/2008/05/19/tourists-dig-capital-of-cones-souvenirs-64375-20929673/

Just looking at the road signage of Doug's first picture,the strand.Where are the signs for the M53,the nearest motorway to Liverpool city centre,no signs for Chester,no signs for Birkenhead Docks,ferries from Birkenhead to Belfast and Dublin? North Wales? Wapping and the Strand lead directly to Leeds st and the Birkenhead tunnel but we have signs for Preston ffs and Manchester where you can't drive more than a couple of hundred yards without seeing a sign for. The signage on the Strand illustrates perfectly how Greater Liverpool doesn't exist to the Highways AGency.The regional office is in Leeds and i think there's some admin in Manchester. Liverpool is poorly signposted on the national motorway network but there is absolutely no excuse for this standard within the city itself.The CCMS has being going on for years hasn't anybody LCC noticed these signs? or perhaps they like the Highways Agency they think the Wirral is uninhabited.

From the Echo -


New entrance for campus

Jul 8 2008 by Nick Coligan, Liverpool Echo

THE main entrance to Liverpool University’s campus is the site of the city’s next big roadworks scheme.

The £1.5m University Square project will see the junction of Mount Pleasant and Brownlow Hill improved, to make it easier for pedestrians to get around.

Footpaths leading to the main square will be relaid with granite paving and benches and lighting will be installed.

A new pedestrian crossing will be installed at the junction, the kerb will be realigned and new traffic lights put in.

Work will start on Monday and should be finished by next spring.

University Square is one of the busiest parts of the campus, as it serves the Victoria gallery and museum, the university’s headquarters and its guild of students.

From here - http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/07/08/new-entrance-for-campus-100252-21300723/

Am I imagining it, or was this junction only modernised a couple of years ago, with new paving, road surfaces, crossings etc?

Not the best of images from last nights Echo.


http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3475/p1020230pe6.jpg

Can't really tell too much from that picture, but if the finish is anything like the other Uni public realm work, it'll be pretty smart, if unspectacular.

Good that it's basically starting straight away though. Another little snippet.

To be honest though, the area doesnt really need it that badly. I'd rather see all work been put into Lime St/Berry St now. I know they have already done public realm work, so it's really the buildings that let it down now. Frustrating really because they are the most high profile streets in terms of roads and they give a terrible impression.

Roll on ABC, Skelhorne Steet, Lime Steet Corridor, Central Villaage and St John's Centre.

Can't really tell too much from that picture, but if the finish is anything like the other Uni public realm work, it'll be pretty smart, if unspectacular.

Good that it's basically starting straight away though. Another little snippet.

To be honest though, the area doesnt really need it that badly. I'd rather see all work been put into Lime St/Berry St now.

Yes, it's hard to see how the level of improvement will justify £1.5m!!

In fantasy-world, this would be the site of the University underground railway station, as it's directly over the Lime St approach. Would also serve the Cathedral and the new Royal. Yum.

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3475/p1020230pe6.jpg

Would be a great venue for an open-air, ice-skating rink.

Like the one in The Conversation (Francis Ford-Coppola 1974).

Except that was roller-skating.

Looking down James Street.............

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc242/woody43/Liverpoolvisit24May08045.jpg

Absolutely stunned this building didn't get stopped by Wirral County Council for blocking the view here of their Art Deco ventilation shaft at Woodside(my favourite building on that side, might I add).

Seething.

Please god be joking :)

Absolutely stunned this building didn't get stopped by Wirral County Council for blocking the view here of their Art Deco ventilation shaft at Woodside(my favourite building on that side, might I add).

Seething.

Ahh but, as it my understanding, those living over the water only have an issue with their views of things on this side of the water being blocked, not our view of what they have to see over there. A blocked view of the ventilation shaft from the Liverpool side of the water therefore isn't a problem. ;)

Ahh but, as it my understanding, those living over the water only have an issue with their views of things on this side of the water being blocked, not our view of what they have to see over there. A blocked view of the ventilation shaft from the Liverpool side of the water therefore isn't a problem. ;)

Its disgraceful, we must continue building along our waterfront until the other side of the river is 100% obliterated from our "sensitive gaze":lol:

Hey, Naughty, ok how about a Liverpool wall? and brick up the Mersey tunnels?
kat:bash:

Hey, Naughty, ok how about a Liverpool wall? and brick up the Mersey tunnels?
kat:bash:

I remember seeing the Berlin Wall, and thinking " thank god for the Mersey,we don`t need a wall.":nuts: Sorry Wirralites - only joking:lol:

Having seen the WALL, I would not wish that fate on any city.:ohno:

Absolutely stunned this building didn't get stopped by Wirral County Council for blocking the view here of their Art Deco ventilation shaft at Woodside(my favourite building on that side, might I add).

Seething.

Stop Seething VT, ok the view down James St is now blocked ,but to compensate, the views down Brunswick and Water Streets ,now have clear uninterupted views of the river (and beyond:ohno:) thanks to the re-positioning of the Mersey Ferry Terminal. Stunning Hey:banana:

I noticed today that the strip of tarmac within the new paving along Williamson Street in the city centre was fenced off and finally being dealt with. The tarmac still extends around the corner into Richmond Street, but at least it's a start.

I also noticed that a patch of the new paving was being dug up outside the McDonald's at the bottom of Lord Street. The patch was just on Paradise Street, more or less where the crane was for the Saturday afternoon event of La Machine. I couldn't see what it was for unfortunately, but it was a reasonably large patch.

The area of paving outside McDonald's has been flooding in the rain.

I also noticed that a patch of the new paving was being dug up outside the McDonald's at the bottom of Lord Street. The patch was just on Paradise Street, more or less where the crane was for the Saturday afternoon event of La Machine. I couldn't see what it was for unfortunately, but it was a reasonably large patch.

I saw the nine blokes doing this ... well one digging up the paving and eight watching and giving advice. They didn't seem to care too much about the granite sets they digging up. Hopefully this will be put right soon.

Liverpool's lost castle to live again in £2m scheme

Feb 23 2009 By David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/02/23/liverpool-s-lost-castle-to-live-again-92534-22986350/2/)

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/ldp2/feb2009/4/5/Liverpool_Castle_350_792214266.jpg

LIVERPOOL’S lost castle is to be resurrected in the renovation of one of the city’s most important squares.

Derby Square at the end of Castle Street is to undergo a major £2m revamp in high quality granite to replace the tired brick work currently there.

Once the site of Liverpool’s castle, different coloured granite will be used to mark out where the walls of the fortress would have been.

The work will be one of the final phases of the big dig and is designed to improve the city centre environment, particularly the route to Liverpool One.

The castle, completed around 1235, was built of sandstone and designed to be self-supporting in times of siege.

By the mid-1300s, it had four towers and was surrounded by a dry moat.

It included an orchard, a chapel, a bakehouse and a herb garden.

Some of the most dramatic scenes of the city’s history were witnessed by the castle during the civil war.

In May 1643, the Parliamentarians took Liverpool and the crucial supply route to Ireland.

Royalists gained control of the fortress in 1644 but only after suffering the heavy loss of 1,500 men in just one week of fighting.

But once the Royalists were defeated, Parliament ordered the demolition of the castle.

By the early 1700s, it was in ruins and its bricks were recycled for other buildings.

Today a plaque on the Queen Victoria monument acts as a reminder of the square’s historical importance.

Work on the scheme is likely to start within weeks of the plan being formally approved by the city’s ruling executive board on Friday.

As part of the repaving project, 20 of the existing trees will be removed and replaced with seven new ones.

An additional 11 litter bins will also be in place to help keep the area outside the city’s crown court clean.

Better lights will also be installed.

“This area has historic connections but it is also links into the development at Liverpool One and Chavasse Park,” said Cllr Peter Millea, the city’s regeneration leader.

“We are going to upgrade it with high-quality materials which will make it more attractive for pedestrians in general but also make it much better for disabled people who use the square.”

Liverpool Council officials argued that the Victoria Monument should be refurbished as part of the works. But the North West Development Agency, which is part funding the project, said no money was available for its inclusion.

Work is expected to to be completed around the end of the year.

The ruling executive is also expected to approve £3.7m of works to Castle Street itself.

When the plan to improve Castle Street was first floated in 2005, the idea was to pedestrianise the road as it formed part of the proposed Merseytram route.

The Daily Post understands that full-scale pedestrianisation is no longer likely.

The council is currently consulting about what exact form the improvements should take.

But the council has said the design will be “future-proofed”, should the Government agree to provide funding for the Merseytram scheme in future.

It is hoped that work on Castle Street might start in September 2010, following the Mathew Street Festival, and finish a year later.

Reminds me of that old joke, when in 1644 Prince Rupert and his men took the castle...and that was the last time anyone called Rupert won a fight in Liverpool:lol:

If we could get the £117 million European money back from the government, we could move the Victoria Monument, and rebuilt the castle. Surely it would be worth it just to find out Wayne's reaction! :lol:

The Castle is hardly being re-born which would suggest a rebuild.

Replica of Liverpool Castle


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b8/Liverpoolcastle.JPG/180px-Liverpoolcastle.JPG
Scale replica of Liverpool Castle as seen in Rivington

In the village of Rivington on the West Pennine Moors near Chorley there is a full-size replica of Liverpool Castle, in ruins. The replica was built in the early 1900s for the 1st Viscount Leverhulme and based on a partly conjectural reconstruction of the castle prepared by E. W. Cox in 1892.

More from here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_Castle

More images of the replica

http://www.bolton.org.uk/lccu.jpg

from here http://www.bolton.org.uk/rivington.html


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_LEr0dFgRz6s/SCNUowtCDtI/AAAAAAAACxk/g1e0P1fHn6A/s640/PICT0014.JPG

From here http://picasaweb.google.com/kev.martin1/RivingtonLiverpoolCastle#5198091454160965330

From the Echo -

Bridge replacement could shut Dock Road until 2011

Apr 2 2009 by Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo

A SECTION of Liverpool’s dock road could be shut until November 2010 after the iron bascule bridge at Stanley Dock was condemned.

Docks owner Peel Holdings shut the key route between Paisley Street and Blackstone Street for a year last May to repair the badly corroded bridge, which dates back to the 1930s.

The closure hit motorists who used Regent Road as an alternative rush hour route to the parallel Great Homer Street and Derby Road.

Peel planned to complete the work in time to re-open the route – which lies within the Stanley Dock conservation area and Liverpool’s World Heritage site – next month.

But Peel Holdings development surveyor Ian Pollitt revealed that it became apparent the upper structure, which works the swing bridge, was too badly damaged to be repaired and needed to be removed.

So now the company is to submit a planning application to Liverpool council to demolish and remove the bridge and replace it with a new bridge, which Mr Pollitt said will be built elsewhere and then transported to the dock road site.

He said: “Because it is in a conservation area we have to go through a full planning application.”

A council spokesman confirmed that Peel have applied for an 18-month extension to the road closure, starting from next month when the road should have re-opened.

But Mr Pollitt said the company hopes to re-open the link much quicker: He said: “I would like to think we could take it (the bridge) out in three months and then look at installing a new fixed bridge by March next year, but we would like to think it would be sooner than that.”

However, he admitted that the timetable to install the new bridge and re-open the link could be affected by Peel’s existing plans to develop its £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme in the same Stanley Dock area.

“There could be a tram link over the bridge, so we have to take this into account.”

He said the cost of demolishing, removing and replacing the bridge will be “substantial” but Peel has already budgeted for it.

And he revealed that once the new fixed crossing is in place Peel hopes to hand the bridge over to the city.

A council spokesman said the extended closure was unavoidable: “It is not safe to allow traffic to go over it.”

A bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight.

From here - http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/04/02/bridge-replacement-could-shut-dock-road-until-2011-100252-23295226/

Typical Peel, it's taken them how long to work out a new bridge is needed?

From the Big Dig web site.....................

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc242/woody43/churchillflyover.jpg

Central columns and south facing handrail to be illuminated.

I really hope that is not it. The reason the Rocket makeover worked is because it was fully cleaned at the same time. Also the '08 signage looked great. Let's hope the new branded signage is ready too and goes up at both loactions so there is a fitting welcome in the North and South of the city.

From the Daily Post -

Award for Liverpool city centre redevelopment project

Jun 1 2009 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

A PROJECT which has transformed Liverpool city centre’s public spaces has won a major award.

The public realm works for the City Centre Movement Strategy (CCMS) has won the Places for People Award in the North West Regional Construction Awards.

CCMS is a £73m package of improvements to roads and pedestrian areas to provide a balanced and sustainable transport system.

The North West Regional Construction awards are run by Centre for Construction Initiative to celebrate best practice and excellence in the built environment and construction sector. They recognise people, projects and organisations showing outstanding performance, skills and attributes. Regeneration leader Cllr Peter Millea said: “The work undertaken as part of CCMS has made the city centre so much more attractive and easier to get around.

“When you remember what the heart of the city used to be like with uneven, cracked pavements and poor-quality material then you can see that the improvements brought about by CCMS have been immeasurable.

“Inevitably there was some disruption when this work took place and some people have confused it with other works which were labelled as the Big Dig – but we have seen the results are very well worthwhile.

“And the judging panel, which consisted of experts in this area, had no doubts that this scheme was a worthy winner and it is good that there is an impartial acknowledgment of CCMS’s value to the city.”

From here - http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/06/01/award-for-liverpool-city-centre-redevelopment-project-92534-23757480/