Traffic jam-busting technology such as ‘smart’ junctions will be used to improve travel times in Blackpool town centre thanks to a multi-million pound injection of cash.
Highways chiefs are still drawing up the final plans for the Town Centre Access Scheme after funding totalling £17m was confirmed in October.
Blackpool Council now has until March 2028 to invest the money – which includes £15.3m from the government and £1.7m from the council. Blackpool has also received £570,000 to upgrade traffic signals.
Areas where queues build up including the junction between Adelaide Street West and Coronation Street, and around Topping Street and Talbot Road, will be among the routes where congestion will be tackled.
Head of Highways at the council Ian Large told a meeting of the Climate Change and Environment Scrutiny Committee the key focus was to ensure the town centre could cope with the influx of thousands of additional office workers in the next few years.
He said: “It is about getting a balance with all the different types of transport users – drivers, buses and bikes, as well as providing for the extra pedestrians we can expect.
“We have no room for underpasses for pedestrians in our town centre, so the next best thing is controlled crossings. But we will be making the traffic signals more intelligent and better able to deal with peaks and troughs.
“There is software now that can pick up if there is a large number of people waiting at a crossing.”
Extra pressure on the town centre is expected from the arrival of 3,000 civil servants to new offices due to open in King Street next year, while there are further proposals for a multiversity and another office block.
A planning application is also expected to be submitted for a 600 space multi-storey car park on the site of the former Syndicate nightclub in the town centre.
Mr Large added another aim would be to encourage through traffic, travelling between the north and south of Blackpool, to by-pass the town centre although he ruled out introducing park and ride schemes, which have been shown not to work.
Blackpool has also received £1.1m from the DfT’s Safer Roads Fund which was used on improvements to the A586 – Talbot Road, Westcliffe Drive, and Poulton Road.
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