View Full Version : Pedestrianize ALL of Thurso town centre
except for taxis and business vehicles!
Who's with me?
Mr P Cannop
31-Aug-04, 08:12
am with you
The Angel Of Death
31-Aug-04, 10:13
except for taxis and business vehicles!
Who's with me?
And if you do so how is anyone meant to get to dounreay and manpower ???
Angel of Death, simple Build a ring road
Golach
Dont be stupid, that killed the centre of wick
Tugmistress
31-Aug-04, 14:15
I have lived in a few places where pedestrianisation has gone too far and killed the local businesses within the pedestrian area. As far as i personally am concerned, Thurso has just about got it right :D
I couldn't agree more samcant. It would make shopping far better and much safer and far more relaxed unless playing 'Dodge the Juggernaut' is your idea of fun.
AR, somehow I think Wicks problems are caused by a few more things than a couple of hundred yards of pedestrian precinct! On a scale of 1 to 10 I would think that it would come about 25 on the list!
Hamnavoe, Thurso Centre is hardly big enough to be 'over-pedestrianised'.
The problem in large towns is caused where there are no convenient Car Parks and the shops are so far away and spread out that you need to take food suppies to reach them. Thurso would suffer from neither of those problems. Some how I don't think Park and Ride would be necessary either which is usually why many Pedestrianised areas fail.
Naefearjustbeer
31-Aug-04, 15:19
A town bypass is all that is required. From stainland straight over the river behind high ormlie and right out onto the road to Dounreay and manpower. This would free up the traffic in the town quite a bit at the peak times. I did hear rumour that this was going to happen, not sure when though.
This would leave more road space for all the cruisers spinning round the street ;) :evil
I have lived in a few places where pedestrianisation has gone too far and killed the local businesses within the pedestrian area. As far as i personally am concerned, Thurso has just about got it right :D"got it right"? I don't think so, with respect. Even the zebra crossing is far from safe, you have to play 'dodge the car' unless you're quick off the mark. A ring road is a good idea, and indeed there is to be a small one round the back of Ormlie as i understand it, but I don't think it'd be that easy to build a road going from say the Weigh Inn to the A9 at the cemetry without major disruption and massive cost. :confused
John Traill
31-Aug-04, 21:57
Even the zebra crossing is far from safe, you have to play 'dodge the car' unless you're quick off the mark. A ring road is a good idea, and indeed there is to be a small one round the back of Ormlie as i understand it, but I don't think it'd be that easy to build a road going from say the Weigh Inn to the A9 at the cemetry without major disruption and massive cost. :confused
You would be playing dodge the car if you treat a pelican crossing like a zebra crossing.
From what I remember of the council's local plan, developers are supposed to incorporate sections of the bypass if they develop the land it is intended to pass over. Even if they do that, I can't imagine anyone stumping up the cash for a bridge to join it all together.
JT
John Traill
31-Aug-04, 23:27
except for taxis and business vehicles!
Who's with me?
What about buses? The people going to Dounreay and Manpower can use them. And the people going to Manpower from Thurso should walk.
JT
John Traill
31-Aug-04, 23:29
Angel of Death, simple. Build a ring road.
Golach
I think a bypass would be better. A ring road would have to go over the sea.
If you're building anything right round Thurso, I suggest a wall would be better. :D
JT
The Angel Of Death
01-Sep-04, 10:54
I think a bypass would be better. A ring road would have to go over the sea.
If you're building anything right round Thurso, I suggest a wall would be better. :D
JT
And when your done building your wall round thurso how about filling it with water as well :evil
Would it not just be simpler to get rid of the lights at Skinandis and convert the square into a roundabout (or a squareabout)? That way traffic would be allowed to flow more freely around that part of the town instead of becoming backed up at peak times. I'm sure that along with a few other minor changes to that part of the town congestion would be eased. Now that most of the drivers in Wick have worked out what to do at a roundabout I certainly find driving through the town much less stressful at busy times.
The thing I see making the biggest difference in both towns, probably more so thurso, is enforcement of parking restrictions. Zigzags at the traffic lights like they have everywhere else (carries a 3 penalty points for parking in zigzags) would make a huge difference in the Wick and I think a good long look at the placement of double yellow lines in the town by a proper town planner would also help a lot. A couple of full time traffic wardens in both towns could also cut down the terrible parking decisions made by the lazy folks. Would love to see something like edinburgh's green lanes introduced up here.
spittalpunks
01-Sep-04, 12:15
Bypass the toon as Naeherefaethebeer said
very wise man in my eyes its been needed since 1980
The town is still just equipped to get horse and carts down Traill Street its not moved with technology and needs overhauling thus alleviating the centre of all yon fish lorries bound fir Billingsgate and Barcelona and the Dounreay traffic
Manpoor folk as stated should just hoof it, fine walk never kilt anybody
The precinct is a disaster zone rip it up and start again
Plus tax all the roadusers of Riverside Road, Traill Street, Princes Straisse and Olrig Street between 7pm and midnight to rid the town of the boy racers, they will just go somewhere else Watten would be a good start well oot the way
What's a Green Lane please? I thought they were where 4x4s went off-roading.
The green lanes in Edinburgh are "NO parking" zones, you park in a green lane and they lift your car onto the back of a truck and drive take it to an impound yard. I'm not sure how extreme the penalty is on top of that, but you're walking home that day.
Another idea would be to have parking wardens, employed by the local community, and all proceeds go to the local fund. They'd be able to hang quite a few flowering baskets with the cash raised :)
Zael, so Green Lanes is just a grandiose title for a No Parking Zone.
These are used in large Towns and Cities to save the cost of painting dozens of miles of Yellow Lines.
I hardly think anywhere in Caithness would be worthy of such a grand title.
The yellow lines indicating No Parking or Restricted Parking already serve exactaly the same purpose.
There are already provisions under the Road Traffic Acts to enable vehicles to be impounded.
When a car is Impounded you don't "Walk Home", you simply go to the Vehicle Pound, pay the necessary fee and drive your car home! Of course, the richer you are the less you care about it.
Why the need for dozens of Traffic Wardens, one in each town would suffice. The amount of roads covered by 24 hour Restrictions just does not warrant the extra cost.
Comparing parking problems in Wick and Thurso to those in cities like Edinburgh really is making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Even Inverness is small beer by comparison.
Of course, Pedestrianising the whole of the centres of Wick and Thurso would solve the problem altogether.
except for taxis and business vehicles!
Who's with me?
What about buses? The people going to Dounreay and Manpower can use them. And the people going to Manpower from Thurso should walk.
JT Yeah, even the disabled folk that work at manpower should walk - oh, and by the way they get paid too much too - £3 an hour and 2 bob in luncheon vouchers should do it. :D
John Traill
03-Sep-04, 21:37
Yeah, even the disabled folk that work at manpower should walk - oh, and by the way they get paid too much too - £3 an hour and 2 bob in luncheon vouchers should do it. :D
There's no reason why some of them can't. (I don't know if they have any though.) Why do people so often equate disabled with an inability to walk?
I wonder why samcant wasn't allowing them into the centre in the first place? :confused Must be wanting their parking spaces for personal use. :lol:
JT
Yeah it is great fun walking to BT in freezing cold weather and snow or rain and strong winds :confused.
Even in hot weather its not fun because you get too hot and sweat like mad.
We should all try it.
except for taxis and business vehicles!
Who's with me?
What about buses? The people going to Dounreay and Manpower can use them. And the people going to Manpower from Thurso should walk.
JT
This would be fine if there were enough buses to accomodate all the people who work in Manpower & Dounreay but unfortunately this is not the case, the busses are at their full capacity on each trip already.
Walking to Manpower in the rain is good for adjusting to the dreary surroundings your going to be in for the proceeding eight hours.
Just teasing, Manpower is a great workplace, and im a liar.
John Traill
16-Sep-04, 23:10
This would be fine if there were enough buses to accomodate all the people who work in Manpower & Dounreay but unfortunately this is not the case, the busses are at their full capacity on each trip already.
This is all to do with supply and demand. Dounreay regularly change bus routes and have even added a bus recently. The problem is the cost. For many people it is more economical to use their car. I don't think it should be susbsidised or based on the Dounreay class system. It should be economically viable. In Edinburgh you can travel all day for £2.50 or £2.00 after 9:30. If there were fares like that and enough buses, I wouldn't take my car to work and only take it for shopping if I couldn't carry it all.
The problem for Manpower workers is they keep changing peoples shifts and then the buses don't suit so don't get used so get withdrawn. Again, if there were enough buses, people could use them.
JT
Manpower-the Cambodia of workplaces. Nothing is so humiliating as being referred to as a "human resource". If you are employed there you're considered to be on the same level as the office supplies and the stuff they use to clean the toilets.
Hmm, i think this message might just be pulled by the administrators!
Having said that, i do consider their presence in Thurso to be as menacing to the employment landscape as the windmills allegedly are to the actual landscape, if you take one's meaning.
Let's play a game of Latin Bingo!
Ban all the traffic, except maybe buses, people with disabilities and taxis and any relevant delivery vehicles. There is no point in putting zig zag lines or whatever cos i am sure half the drivers up here got their licenses from lucky bags anyways - most don't even seem to realise what double yellow lines are there for even, making the road more colourful perhaps? My disabled brother has nearly been run over crossing the road at the legitimate crossings and sometimes you have to walk on the road due to cars parked on the pavements.That is really handy for disabled, elderly and people with prams or buggies. Prime example is the car park and area up by Dale Road when there is football on. There is a traffic warden in town but does he actually do anything? I have seen him drive off in a police car once and that is about it. Same with people parking in the disabled areas, I hope they or their families have the misfortune to genuinely need these areas sometime see how it pleases them when this happens.
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