‘Enabling people to walk, wheel and cycle safely should be the priority’

It’s the height of the morning rush hour and Church Road in St George is humming with traffic.

I’m stood outside the grand gateway to St George Park, facing across to the Fire Engine pub and Blackswarth Road, with cars, lorries and busses speeding past in four directions.

Suddenly the traffic quiets and the combined flashing green men let us proceed. “Start the timer,” says Jim.

This junction on Church Road in St George is notoriously difficult to navigate – photo: St George Active Travel Group

Flo’s walk to school involves crossing here every day, and because she’s a smart and sensible 11-year-old she’s allowed to go by herself most of the time.

We walk to the pedestrian island on the easternmost arm of the crossing, then get as far as the Red Church restaurant before the lights change again and we have to wait, timer ticking.

Just then, we see a boy (of a similar age to Flo) scoot diagonally across the middle of the crossings. I gasp, afraid that a driver pre-empting the lights will speed out, but he makes it safely across this time.

“They do that a lot”, says Flo. “They can’t be bothered to wait like I do.”

The junction of Church Road with Blackswarth Road and Chalks Road is one of the busiest in east Bristol.

In March 2022, a traffic count measured an average of 20,000 motorised vehicle movements and nearly 5,000 walking and cycling journeys daily.

It’s also one of the most dangerous; crash statistics (which are only collected if someone is hurt, and the incident is reported to the police) shows six collisions here in the last five years up to June.

Combined with a review of stories in local press, it suggests that there have been at least 16 casualties in the same timeframe, with horrific headlines like ‘Injured cyclist ‘let out blood-curdling scream’ in collision with car’ and ‘Main Bristol road closed in St George after reports of man hit by lorry’.

In June, it was reported ‘Church Road crash: Two people rushed to hospital after serious collision’. I remember this one, walking past a crushed traffic light pole with a sick feeling in my stomach.

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Read more: St George residents demand redesign of ‘notoriously dangerous’ crossing

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On paper, the junction isn’t a bad one. It was redesigned in 2006 as part of a ‘showcase bus route’ along with the introduction of bus lanes to Church Road, and in theory provides safe refuges for pedestrians to cross the four traffic lanes in comfort and ‘Advance Stop Lines’ for cyclists to stop visibly ahead of traffic.

In practice it does not meet modern concepts of what a walking and cycling friendly junction should be, prioritising instead smooth flow of motorised traffic.

Pedestrians have the uncomfortable experience of queuing together on cramped pavements, centimetres from lorries and SUVs rumbling past them – something which feels especially nasty as I stand with Jim and Flo outside the Red Church, as cars come speeding around the corner to beat the lights.

Cyclists must take their chances to reach those advanced lines, then contend with drivers impatient at being held up. This is especially hairy when cycling up the hill, abandoned without even a painted cycle lane for support.

It shouldn’t be this way. Enabling people to walk, wheel, scoot and cycle safely around the area should be the priority when looking at busy urban neighbourhoods like St George and Redfield.

There are children from three different primary schools using this crossing, as well as people walking and cycling to work in the city centre or visiting the shops along Church Road.

Making these journeys safe and attractive is important for people’s health and the health of our planet.

The Healthy Streets approach, “a human-centred framework for embedding public health in transport, public realm and planning”, includes ‘people feel relaxed’, ‘easy to cross’ and ‘people feel safe’ as key attributes public spaces need to create ‘fair, accessible and attractive urban spaces.’

The Church Road junction fails completely on every one.

“Making these journeys safe and attractive is important for people’s health and the health of our planet” – photo: St George Active Travel Group

That could be said of so many places in Bristol though, we are beset by so many transport challenges that make getting around in the right ways increasingly difficult. Why this junction? Why now?

Because we have an opportunity to do something about it.

The East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood project, covering an area from Barton Hill right up to Summerhill Road, borders Church Road for much of its length.

In the initial crowd-sourcing consultation with local residents, this junction received more ‘negative’ feedback than any other spot in the project area.

More recently, residents were invited to suggest improvements on an online map and at in-person events. Many focused on improving crossing points all along Church Road.

Despite all this, Bristol City Council have not confirmed if improvements to the junction are in-scope for the project, and there is a fear that it might be deemed too contentious and costly to include. Given the reported £12m budget for the project though, it would seem a massive lost opportunity not to tackle this huge pain point within our community.

Stood on the corner of Blackswarth Road with Jim and Flo, patiently waiting for the light to turn green again so she can continue her walk to school, it seems crystal clear that not making her journey easier would be a failure for the project.

By the time we cross to the other pavement, and she can continue on her way, it has taken us nearly five minutes to cross the junction. Cars coming from over a mile away will have crossed before we could.

“Have a great day,” I say as I wave them goodbye. “Don’t get run over.”

Lyndsey Melling is chair of the St George Active Travel Group

Main photo: St George Active Travel Group

Read next:

• St George residents demand redesign of ‘notoriously dangerous’ crossing 
• East Bristol enters second phase of Liveable Neighbourhood trial 
• ‘Liveable neighbourhoods will improve the lives of Bristol’s children’
• ‘When I take the First Bus gamble, I tend to lose’ 

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