Summary of Changes to the Leeds Festival Traffic Management Plan for 2017 and Beyond

Summary of changes to the Leeds Festival Traffic Management Plan for 2017 and beyond

Issues in 2016

Failures in 2016 have led to a wholesale review of the Leeds Festival Traffic Management Plan (TMP) and a new plan for 2017 and beyond. The key aims of the review of the plan have been: -

to improve safety
to do all that we can to prevent pedestrians accessing the public highway
to remove conflict at Yellow Gate on Thorner Road
to improve the slickness and efficiency of the drop off and pick up operation
to remove traffic streams from each other wherever possible to reduce congestion and conflict
to provide a designated bus route
to provide good routings and facilities for taxis and pre booked private hire vehicles
to improve the situation for Thorner residents
to make sure that the plan is proportionate to the demand and the arrival and departure pattern
to improve and strengthen the exit plan

Changes to the inbound routes

In previous years there have been 2 inbound routes in use during the Thursday namely:

1Red route (Thursday only) – A1M to Jct 44, A64 one way system to Red Gates 1, 2 and 2A into site.

2Brown route (all times) – A1M to Jct 45, Grange Moor and Wattle Syke roundabouts, West Woods Road, Tenter Hill, Paradise Way and Brown Gate into site.

We are now confident that red route is no longer required on the Thursday or at all and propose instead that inbound traffic should use Brown route throughout the arrival period for accessing the car parks.

The rationale behind cancelling the one way system on Thursday is that our arrival pattern has changed since we first introduced it. Lower numbers of weekend cars have been arriving to park up for the weekend with more people choosing to arrive by public transport or be dropped off. Weekend ticket sales have also decreased. At the same time we now have a larger proportion of festival goers choosing to arrive early on the Wednesday than was previously the case and a larger proportion of day ticket arrivals on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All of this means that we no longer have the Thursday peak that the A64 one way system was designed to deal with. Rather our arrival volume is well spread out over the period Wednesday to Sunday.

Those responsible for the implementation of the TMP, including West Yorkshire Police, consider that there is no longer any justification for the A64 one way system. Its removal will mean less impact on residents along the A64 and further afield and will reduce police resources.

Quote from West Yorkshire Police in their debrief report received 16th January 2017:

“It is our view that the one way system implemented on the A64 on the Thursday again proved unnecessary. Its implementation (and removal) causes confusion to members of the public and also creates increased risk to both public and officer safety. In essence, whilst intended to reduce risk, instead it causes more problems than it resolves. It also impacts negatively on the public’s perception of West Yorkshire Police as they see the police as being responsible for the problems it causes……. When it is implemented it increases traffic through Thorner village because some people choose to travel through Thorner in order to circumnavigate the closure”

Our main inbound routes will be:

KEY TRAFFIC STREAMS / ROUTE
Parking traffic / J45 A1M, West Woods Road, Paradise Way southboundto Brown Gate
Drop off traffic / J45 A1M, A659 west, A58 south, Ring Road A6120to Seacroft and A64 eastbound to Red Gates 1 and 2

These routings are already tried and tested. There are no new routes proposed. There will be no use of the ring road from Colton past Cross Gates to Seacroft. We are only using the ring road from the A58 junction to Seacroft for drop off traffic in the same way as we have done in previous years, albeit now also on the Thursday.

We have analysed the volumes expected along with the existing road usage and capacity and are confident that the network will cope with the volumes of traffic with these routings. We have presented this analysis to the Traffic Sub Group in some detail and they support the changes. The key points are that the drop off route on the Thursday will carry around the same level of festival traffic as on the Wednesday in previous years which has always worked well. Brown Route on the Thursday will carry nearly 2000 less cars overall than its daily capacity demonstrated by previous modelling carried out.

Road closures for Thorner Village

Following discussions with Thorner Parish Council, West Yorkshire Police and the Traffic Sub Group we would like to implement a series of road closures for Thorner Village so that we can maintain resident access to the village while preventing festival goers, taxis and other non-resident through traffic from using routes through Thorner to access the festival.

This has the potential to significantly improve the situation for the village, while also ensuring that locations along the routes through Thorner are not used as unofficial drop off locations leading to pedestrians on the road and consequent safety issues. It also removes conflict with traffic streams coming from Thorner towards Yellow Gate with the buses and coaches coming to Yellow Gate from the Bramham direction therefore improving the bus operation.

Changes at Yellow Gate

We are making the following changes to the area around Yellow Gate:

Creating a dedicated bus route inbound and outbound via Thorner Road to and from Yellow Gate. On Sunday evening between the hours of 23.00 and 01.00, buses will be allowed to go through Thorner village in order to improve their journey/turnaround time.
Creating a dedicated taxi route inbound via Thorner Road to Nova Scotia and outbound via Mangrill Lane.
Creating a separate taxi rank and separate area for pre booked private hires inside Nova Scotia.
Moving the local resident car park to Purple Gate and away from Yellow Gate with an exception for Thorner residents who will have a dedicated car park at Nova Scotia.

The above changes mean that we have removed competing streams of traffic and operations from the Yellow Gate area, created a dedicated bus route meaning that they can get into Leeds and back to site to pick up the next load of passengers efficiently and has given taxis viable routes to and from site that don’t involve travelling through Thorner. Taxis will always find their best route and this plan gives them one that will work for them meaning they are far more likely to follow it.

Changes to the exit plan

There will besignificant changes to our exit plan with the aim of reducing the following problems experienced on Sunday and Monday in 2016:

Pedestrians on the A64 and on Thorner and Bramham Road and subsequent safety issues.
Stacking from the entrance into the pick up point on the A64 all the way back to Seacroft.
High volumes of traffic on the A58 and Ring Road.
A long journey for parents round the A58 to the A64 who have in the main come from the A1M.
Slow removal from site of festival goers looking to catch shuttle buses, coaches and taxis.

We are going to close the A64 from 9pm Sunday, overnight and until around 2pm Monday at the same locations as the previous Thursday one way system (ie at Bramham Interchange and at the Fox and Grapes). It will be completely closed eastbound at the Fox and Grapes and signed as closed westbound at Bramham Interchange (though allowing through traffic westbound).

Parents arriving to pick up would use Jct 44 of the A1M turning left onto the A64 towards Leeds and then right into site at Red Gate 1 and Red Gate 2. Because the A64 will be closed at this point, the right turn can be made without interruption. By using 2 gates into the pick up area we have doubled our capacity for the pick up operation.

After picking up inside the site, parents will then leave site and route back onto the A64 towards the A1M at Jct 44 on the eastbound carriageway of the closed A64 thus not conflicting with the incoming pick up traffic on the westbound carriageway.

There are several advantages to this:

By creating a smooth and dedicated pick up route in and out of the site we will ensure the most efficient pick up operation possible thus removing the frustration experienced in previous years and the temptation for festival goers to go onto the A64 and walk along it to try and find their lifts. We cannot prevent someone who is determined to leave site from doing so and therefore we need a pick up plan that works as efficiently and slickly as is possible. The pick up operation on Sunday night and Monday morning is the peak traffic operation of the entire festival in terms of volume and arrival pattern and so getting this right is the key to the plan as a whole.
It gives us control of the road where any pedestrians might be and the closed carriageway gives us stacking capacity from Red Gates 1 and 2 that does not impact on non-festival traffic.
It removes festival traffic from the previous pick up route along the A58 and the Ring Road. The previous route can become an easily implemented contingency if required.

The closure of the A64 eastbound to through traffic is not thought to have the impact that it might on any other day of the year for the following reasons:

Due to congestion in previous years most non festival traffic already avoids the A64 on Monday morning in both directions but particularly eastbound.
It is Bank Holiday Monday and therefore the normal commuter traffic in both directions will be reduced.
We will widely advertise the closure and we will sign alternative routes.
We will communicate on a one to one basis with all residents living on the actual closed part of the route to consider the journeys they need to make and to ensure that their access is maintained. Their access will now be better than was the case during the Thursday closure as the A64 will be 2 way meaning most can turn right or left out of their properties during the period of the closure and travel with festival traffic.
The section of the A64 from the Red Bus Layby to Seacroft will be unaffected meaning that routes through to Barwick / Thorner / Scholes will remain intact.
Residents may feel this closure is preferable to the Thursday one way system. They may also find it preferable to the previous congestion experienced on the A58, A6120 and the A64 on the Monday.

Quick recap summary of key changes

Removal of A64 one way system on the Thursday - all traffic coming to park to use Brown Gate instead, with drop offs via the A58.
Relocation of residents and guest car park at Nova Scotia to an area inside Purple Gate.
Creation of Thorner residents’ car park and new taxi rank at Nova Scotia.
Creation of dedicated bus route to and from Yellow Gate.
Creation of dedicated taxi exit route using Mangrill Lane southbound.
New road closure system for Thorner Village for residents’ access only.
New A64 road closure for the exit plan from 9pm Sunday until after lunch on Monday to enable customers picking up festival goers to use Jct 44 of the A1M, A64 westbound, pick up onsite, and exit via A64 eastbound back to Jct 44 of the A1M.

Conclusion

We and the Traffic Sub Group are confident that the above plan mitigates the problems experienced in 2016 and that it is the best plan for the current traffic volumes and arrival and departure patterns.