COUNTY officials are coming under fire after they installed a “road hump” which is now causing traffic congestion.
Teesdale residents have vented their frustration about the kerb-height bulge in the road at the bus stop in Lower Galgate, in Barnard Castle.
Resident Colin Bunn said: “Can anyone explain to me why this new road hump in Galgate is a good idea? I dread to think how much the council paid to put it in.
“I’m not at all sure what the point is. This is not the first bonkers scheme from Durham County Council’s highways department.”
Another resident commented: “They’ve stuck a bus stop in the middle of a road and it’s blocking off the whole road.”
Previously, buses were able to pull alongside the bus shelter, allowing passengers to embark and traffic to continue to move freely on the access road.
But now traffic comes to a standstill when any bus stops to pick up passengers. And when an Arriva bus suffered mechanical problems last Tuesday, the route was blocked for more than three hours until a tow truck arrived.
Resident Joanne Wilkinson said: “It’s an absolute waste of money. Nothing can get past while the bus is picking up passengers.”
Dave Lewin, Durham County Council’s traffic management manager, said: “The build-out of this bus stop is one of the countywide temporary measures that we put in place to facilitate social distancing for the reopening of non-essential retail in June. As a council, we had to act quickly to make our communities safe in the wake of the pandemic to give pedestrians more space.
“Given that a bus stop is a place where people would typically gather, there was a need to provide an alternative route past waiting passengers to allow people to maintain two metres distance. To this end we re-allocated road space for pedestrian use whilst maintaining a vehicle route.
“All measures to facilitate social distancing follow government guidance and were approved before installation.
“The pedestrian route is protected by barriers to prevent vehicle over-run.
“The measures introduced are regularly reviewed with regard to current government guidance on social distancing and will be removed when it is appropriate to do so.”
The council also confirmed there were no plans to enlarge the new bump.
