PEOPLE living in Grove Road and Park Road, Dunstable, are furious after the “experimental” closure of Downs Road diverted a torrent of traffic down their quiet, narrow streets.
Large concrete plant pots have been placed on the road near the intersection with Allen Close by Bedfordshire Highways – an alliance between public service provider Amey and Central Bedfordshire Council.
They say it is a “trial” bid to prevent “rat-running traffic” racing through the residential area on commuter journeys between Downside, the A5 and A505.
But residents say the problem is that the largely non-local traffic, which has been using Downs Road as an alternative to the A5 for years, has now found somewhere else to dart through – down Grove Road and Park Road.
The streets have cars parked on either side, but the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order, now in its second week, will be in operation for up to 18 months.
Leaflets are being handed out urging residents to complain to Bedfordshire Highways and a Facebook page has been set up to rally support for the reopening of Downs Road.
One angry Park Road resident told the Gazette: “The noise is absolutely horrendous. The drains are constantly rattling as they’ve been loosened by the sheer volume of heavy traffic.”
Grove Road resident Dorothy Everett said she has been cut off from her own garage.
“I now have to go all round the houses – up almost every neighbouring street – just to park my car,” she added.
“It is not fixing the problem – just moving it elsewhere.”
Alan Salter, who set up the Facebook page and lives in Grove Road, said: “The biggest upset has been lack of any information. There’s been no consultation and it seems the council are just trying to steamroller this through.”
Colin Wilkinson, spokesman for the scheme at Amey, said: “We note the concerns expressed and accept that there will be some inconvenience to local residents.
“Clearly action of this nature is not going to please everyone and indeed in solving a problem of this nature there will always be some inconvenience.
“As this is an experimental traffic order we have the opportunity to change traffic management layouts to deal with issues that arise within the period of the legal order. As the closure has only been in place for a matter of days we think it would be sensible to wait a few weeks and then reassess the situation.
“If overall strength of public opinion is that we remove the closure and do nothing then we will consider that at the appropriate time with full involvement of our local councillors, who had asked us to carry out the experiment. However, we have received some very positive support for the experiment.”
Downs Road man Ben Hewitt welcomed the road closure.
He said: “It’s an inconvenience for those of us that live in Downs Road to have the block there, but overall I feel it will make the road safer, which can never be a bad thing considering the amount of kids that use the tennis courts and football pitch in Downs Road.”
Councillor Brian Spurr of Central Beds Council said: “Following concerns raised by local residents about safety issues along Downs Road we carried out a traffic survey last March which identified commuter runs between the Downside Estate area, A5 and A505.
“The council is currently trialling an experimental scheme to close a section of Downs Road to through traffic so we can observe the impact of this closure on other routes and traffic flows throughout the area.
“Advance warning signs have been installed to alert drivers about the closure. As this is an experimental closure we are encouraging local residents and road users to feed their comments back to us, before formally deciding on whether to make this a permanent closure.”
Comments can be made in writing to Transportation Manager, Bedfordshire Highways, Woodlands Annex, Manton Lane, Bedford MK41 7NU, or email centralbedsconsultation@amey.co.uk before April 31.