S4

Policy: S4 - Strategic Policy 4

Pedestrian

The Masterplan has sought to address the challenge of topography through a number of projects. The key project to address the connection between St Georges and Strand Street is Project SS4. This suggests a connection from Prospect Hill, into the upper floor of Marks & Spencer to drop into Strand Street and Regent Street.

A new area of civic space, Knox Place, creates a focus for the town centre, as part of the wider public realm framework. The Masterplan identifies the need for this and the connections required for the Fort to enable this to knit into the wider town centre movement network.

South of Knox Place a new Wintergarden creates a direct connection to the Quayside, and provides opportunity to create an indoor and sheltered bus hub, with real-time arrival information. The Wintergarden itself could have multiple roles as a space with such practical activity, and as an attraction to see and experience.

Connecting Strand Street to Knox Place is integral to the success of the town centre working a whole, rather than a series of less successful solutions. The demolition of a terrace of low quality units on Duke Street would allow the access to the Villiers Square & AXA site solution to be improved, and terminate views down Nelson Street. This is as well as the potential to create a smaller irregular space linking to and over Victoria Street to link to The Fort.

Marine triangle within the new Maritime Gateway creates a new arrival space to create activity; sheltered from the elements the space will support existing and new uses including tourism and commercial activity.

The proposed pedestrian bridge over the Marina will create a new pedestrian crossing point to allow ease of access to South Quay, helping to create a direct connection from the town centre, particularly the Quayside, to the new South Quay development sites.

On Street - Vehicular / Cycle

There is potential for a new bridge crossing, linking Old Castletown Road with Lake Road, to the south-west of the Tesco site in Riverside Gateway and this offers the largest change in terms of connections, opening up a new access to the centre and the Riverside area in particular.

Historically proposals have been put forward for a pedestrian bridge in this location. Whilst this would link well with the strategy for pedestrian /cycle connectivity with the Peel railway link, there is also an opportunity to provide a new multi-modal bridge in this location. This would not only improve pedestrian / cycle connectivity but also improve connections for motorised transport.

Details set out in the Douglas Transport Strategy (DTS), and corroborated by the Paramics analysis, show that the existing bridge crossings currently act as pinch points for vehicular movements north-south across the river. The DTS also identifies Bank Hill / Bridge Road as a key problem location.

The introduction of a new river crossing in this location would re-distribute traffic and help to alleviate pressure on the two existing crossing points, which during the peak periods can become congested and result in delay to journey times. It would also help improve north-south connectivity, particularly during the four daily periods where the South Quay Bridge is lifted.

Topographically Old Castletown Road lies at a higher level than Lake Road, so more detailed consideration will be required to ensure that a bridge could be delivered to adoptable standards.

Traffic problems in this area are also exacerbated by the poor legibility of the road system. Right turning movements at the junction of Bridge Road / Banks Circus / Bank Hill are prohibited with drivers observed using the mini roundabout to allow them to travel straight over on to North Quay. In addition, since the opening of the lower harbour bridge, one-way streets such as Ridgeway Street and Athol Street have not been reviewed.

U-turning traffic at the Banks Circus roundabout could be dealt with by re-configuration of the Bridge Road / Banks Circus / Bank Hill junction and would not be dependent on the provision of any new connections.

Reinforcing existing connections

Pedestrian

Chester Street car park presents the most talked about requirements, concerns over safety and the quality of the links have been recorded at Baseline; therefore the Masterplan proposes that this will be improved through lighting and how the car park is clad. In addition to physical improvements, the management of the space need to respond to the use patterns, ensuring that lifts and entrances are kept open to support early evening/evening activity at the Villa Marina, Gaiety Theatre and at Castle Street.

Fort Street will evolve from a vehicular cut through to a pedestrian only space linking into the heart of the public space in Knox Place; this will therefore become an extremely important strategic connection within the Masterplan proposals.

The crossing of Church Marina Road by Marina Road onto Harris Promenade will also be a key connection in achieving the improvement to movements to Villa Marina.