Devon County Council is holding a second consultation on its proposals for bus lane changes in Heavitree Road, Honiton Road and Pinhoe Road, in what it calls Exeter’s central and eastern transport corridors.
Following an initial informal consultation earlier this year, which yielded more than 800 responses, the county council is conducting a statutory consultation on the traffic regulation orders that are required to formalise the proposed changes.
These include extending bus lane operation times in Heavitree Fore Street so restrictions apply from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. Restrictions currently apply from 8am to 9.30am and 4pm to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.
The parking bay facing the shops in North Street would also be shortened, leaving a single car club space, to widen the turn into Fore Street.
Illustrative view of proposed Heavitree Road bus priority junction – without any traffic. Image: WSP.
New traffic signals would also be introduced on an extended eastbound bus lane further west along Heavitree Road to give buses priority when turning right into Barrack Road by allowing them to proceed ahead of other traffic.
Residents parking spaces and a bus stop would be removed from the south side of the road to create space for the new junction.
Bus lane operation times would also be extended in sections of Pinhoe Road and Honiton Road so restrictions would apply from 7am to 10am, Monday to Saturday, with loading and waiting times altered to match the new timings.
Restrictions currently apply in the affected sections of Pinhoe Road and Honiton Road from 8am to 9.15am, Monday to Friday.
A plan to add a bus lane to a short stretch of Barrack Road has been abandoned following feedback submitted during the first consultation.
Exeter bus corridors. Source: Devon County Council Bus Services Improvement Plan v2
The proposals are among several incremental changes that are at various stages of development as part of the Devon Bus Services Improvement Plan adopted by the county council in 2022.
The plan identifies six bus corridors in Exeter, five of which run from the city centre to its outskirts along radial routes and one along Barrack Road between Topsham Road and Heavitree Road.
The county council expects bus journey times will be shortened by 4 minutes on the central corridor and 3 minutes and 20 seconds on the eastern corridor but says “these savings will fluctuate depending on the bus route, congestion levels and direction of travel along the corridors”.
The cost of the central and eastern corridor schemes is estimated at £1.6 million.
The consultation on the proposed Heavitree Road and Pinhoe Road corridor changes runs until Thursday 10 October. Comments can be submitted via the county council website.
A special meeting of Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee is being held on Tuesday 12 November to consider the proposed changes, giving the county council only eighteen working days to process consultation responses before the meeting agenda must be published.
At its July meeting, the committee reversed a decision to introduce bus lane changes in Cowick Street.
Works to provide a bus gate on New North Road alongside John Lewis, a reversal of a previous county council decision to make this section of street one way, were completed this summer.
