Major changes to Grapes Hill roundabout
There’s a push to improve access to the city centre for buses, which could see the re-routing of traffic off Grapes Hill.
Up for discussion: whether to send pedestrians and cyclists through Chapelfield Gardens, allowing the road to be widened and made 2-way. At present, buses from Unthank, Earlham and Dereham Road converge on Grapes Hill roundabout and often get stuck in congestion heading towards St Stephens. So planners have drawn up some plans to be discussed by councillors next week.
One idea is to make Chapelfield North two-way, allowing buses to drop passengers on Theatre Street. To do this, the road would need to be widened past Chapelfield Gardens and the footpath would be removed. Pedestrians and cyclists would instead use the pathway through the park, which would have new gates and lighting to make it safe to use at night.
Little Bethel Street would be closed to traffic. The exit road off Grapes Hill roundabout towards St Giles (Cleveland Road) would also become two-way.
To stop the traffic becoming too congested at the top of Grapes Hill, Convent Road could be widened to 3 lanes, with just one lane coming off Grapes Hill to join Unthank/ Earlham Road.
Such proposals are always controversial. These plans, estimated to cost over £600,000, will be discussed at next week’s Highways meeting at 10am at City Hall.
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