It’s been a major traffic nightmare for years.
But can anything be done about the bottleneck on Wigginton Road next to York Hospital?
A petition has now been launched urging City of York Council and York Hospital bosses to work together to find a solution.
It’s from the three Guildhall Labour councillors, Dave Merrett, Rachel Melly and Tony Clarke, who are urging their own council’s leadership to do more.
The petition reads: “We call upon the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust and the City of York Council to work together to urgently undertake measures to address the serious and regular congestion and queuing back from the hospital car park into Wigginton Road.
“The congestion is badly affecting both nearby junctions and roads beyond, and causes major delays to local bus services 1, 5 and 6 and other traffic.
“Journeys, including those to the hospital, are unreliable, time consuming and stressful. Residents who live near the hospital are badly affected too – the congestion increases local air and noise pollution and access difficulties.”
At the time of writing, the petition had gained 496 signatures.
One respondent wrote: “Traffic is horrendous most days. You can be stuck in a queue for 20 to 30 minutes and it’s all cars waiting to get into the hospital car park.”
Cllr Rachel Melly told YorkMix: “The congestion sometimes is so bad that it blocks up Haxby Road and Clarence Street as well, and surrounding roads.”
She explained the reasons for the petition. “We have met with people from the hospital to discuss the issue with them, but we just feel a bit more public pressure maybe is needed to get the hospital and the council to work together and find some solutions to make it work for everyone.
“We’ve discussed a few options with the hospital, but there aren’t any quick easy fixes.”
Cllr Melly said these were private conversations and didn’t at this stage want to discuss any specific options.
‘Move the hospital’
The petition has sparked a discussion online about what practical measures could be taken to improve the congestion.
Redditor amusedfridaygoat summarised these responses. You can see the full post here. Here are the options put forward:
- Improve existing junctions, eg
- replace the mini-roundabouts with traffic lights that prioritise clearing traffic leaving the hospital
- simplify the junctions at the Union Terrace/Lowther Street/Townend Street end to improve flow
- create a dedicated filter lane from Wigginton Road into the hospital so all other traffic can pass queues
- Traffic demand management, eg
- reconfigure other nearby roads to act as relief routes
- create a link road from Crichton Avenue bridge to Nestlé “but this has been ruled out”
- Increase parking at the hospital, as much of the queuing is caused by drivers waiting for spaces to become available
- Alternatives to the car, eg
- better public transport, park-and-ride and cycle routes to reduce the number of cars trying to access the hospital
- a free shuttle bus service for both staff and patients
- Move York Hospital – to a more accessible site outside the city centre.
