RESIDENTS calling for action on a road near a school in Cwmbran have been dealt a blow after new traffic data did not support introducing road safety measures.
A Torfaen council report does not recommend new road safety measures on Blenheim Road, in St Dials, despite showing increases in traffic and a slight increase in speeds.
Blenheim Road will have a 20mph limit from Summer 2023
But the report notes that the road will have a new, lower speed limit of 20mph from the summer of 2023 due to Welsh Government changes.
The latest petition calling for chicanes to be installed was signed by 377 people and presented to a full council meeting in June.
It says residents are seeing “near-misses on a weekly basis”, with the most recent involving a car being forced to mount a pavement at high speed.
Following the petition, Torfaen council carried out further traffic surveys at two locations on the street last month – outside St Joseph’s Social Club and by Blenheim Road shops.
The surveys show a 23 per cent increase in traffic, and a slight increase in speeds, but a report says this is not enough to support any additional road safety measures at this time.
Data from 2018 showed the average speed outside St Joseph’s Social Club on Blenheim Road was 26mph.
This has now risen to an average speed of 27.6mph, taking the combined average of traffic travelling in either direction.
The ’85th percentile’ speed – the speed at which 85 per cent of traffic was travelling at, or below, along the street – was measured at 31mph outside the social club in 2018.
This has now risen to 32.4mph at the same location.
At the second location, outside Blenheim Road shops, the average speed was 28.5mph, while the 85th percentile speed was 32.9mph.
A report says the data shows an increase in speeds, but the average remains below the 30mph limit.
Less than 10 per cent of vehicles are exceeding the police enforcement threshold of 35mph, the council report adds.
However the data reveals an increase in daily traffic flow of 784 vehicles per day from 2018, equating to 23 per cent.
The increase in traffic has been put down to new housing developments, and drivers using the route to avoid speed bumps which have been installed on Greenmeadow Way.
“Overall, when comparing the data collected in 2018 against the most recent updated monitoring, it does not reveal anything significant in terms of traffic speeds or volumes to further support the installation of chicanes or other road safety measures along Blenheim Road,” a council report says.
“Whilst it is acknowledged that traffic volumes have increased, this remains well within the highway capacity of the road.”
The report will be discussed at a full council meeting next Tuesday, November 16.