Improvements along the quiet route via St Mary's Road and Hunt Road have already been delivered to enhance links between the town centre, surrounding residential areas and schools. New signal technology has also been introduced at the Shah of Persia to better detect buses and pedestrians, to help improve bus journey times and pedestrian crossing facilities.

Following national review of the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) programme by the Department for Transport, further funding will be needed to deliver other proposed improvements along Longfleet Road.

Rising construction, labour and fuel costs, growing inflation and changes to national design standards for cycling infrastructure mean south east Dorset’s original TCF budget, awarded pre-pandemic in March 2020, is no longer sufficient to build the entire network of cycle, walking and bus improvements planned across the region. 

Priority has been given to TCF schemes that link into existing sustainable travel infrastructure, providing an immediate interim level of connectivity and more continuous travel routes.

Click here to read the full announcement

2021 proposals

The proposals consulted on in the 2021 public consultation included: 

• A new protected one-way cycle track on the western side of High Street North
• A signed quiet route along St Mary’s Road with current restrictions to vehicle movement remaining at the junction of Garland Road and St Mary’s Road
• An existing crossing on Longfleet Road relocated to near Shaftesbury Road
• A new protected cycle track on both sides of Longfleet Road between Shaftesbury Road and the Bird’s Hill Road/Garland Road junctions
• Upgrades to existing crossing points
• More priority for cyclists and pedestrians at the junctions of Longfleet Road with Shaftesbury Road and Parish Road, and the junction of St Mary’s Road with Garland Road
• Upgrades to the junctions of St Mary’s Road and Longfleet Road with Fernside Road, including new traffic lights, new crossings and improvements to existing crossing points
• Changes to traffic signal timings at the junction of Longfleet Road and Fernside Road to improve bus journey times.

View the proposed design plan here.

A summary of the public consultation responses is available here.