Crossing at Dale Road

[jimblob]

The crossing changes were part of the national cycle scheme and involved changing the existing pedestrian crossing for a Toucan crossing that is cycle friendly. The total cost of the scheme was £150,000!.... for a crossing that was already there that was for me as a cyclist perfectly usable. We can blow £150k on a new crossing but we can't fill in the pot holes we already have.

[Rachael]

Sorry Denise, what I meant was that we cross at the main road, and then have to cross at Dale road.

[Jay]

Yes, the crossing I'm referring to is on Dale Road, it's just an island crossing not a pedestrian crossing. However it looks like the pedestrian crossing is moving also, a few feet up the road!? I agree it makes crossing Dale road easier, the point I was trying to make what why spend all that money (putting in a island, widening and raising the pavement and moving the pedestrian crossing the blink of an eye up the road) when the roads them selves are in such a state. Road tax payers money must be going somewhere. Believe me we all know we pay through the nose just to have the unfortunate privilege of driving. Maybe it's all a conspiracy to drive us off the road!  I posted this before the machines started to dig up little patches of road to patch in a bit of tarmac, so some money is now being spent on the roads, but why little random patches here and there? Still makes for a bumpy ride in my opinion!

[Deniseam]

Bit confused here - I thought there was already a crossing from The Railway to the other side - am I getting this completely wrong?

[nbt]

If you also notice - they are building the kerb out on the spar side of the junction - this will increase visibility to people leaving both spar and Dale Road onto Stockport Road thus improving safety at this junction.

There is usually method in the madness of road improvements.

More than that, I think they're planning to make part of that wider pavement a shared cycle path, leading out from the middlewood way. Is this a change in attitude from the previously car-centric Stockport council?

[Belly]

I was discussing with some other Mums from school about the crossing, and we think its a good thing .

Many of us walk along the middlewood way to school and have to cross where the new crossing is going to be put ( or further down where it is safer) .

Cars come speeding around that corner sometimes in the morning from the main road, you have to be extra on your guard whilst we cross .

I think that it will also encourage people to walk to school  more, knowing that there are safe places for their children to get over the road to school.

I definately do not think that it is a waste of money, I personaly think that it has been long overdue .

If you also notice - they are building the kerb out on the spar side of the junction - this will increase visibility to people leaving both spar and Dale Road onto Stockport Road thus improving safety at this junction.

There is usually method in the madness of road improvements.

[Rachael]

I was discussing with some other Mums from school about the crossing, and we think its a good thing .

Many of us walk along the middlewood way to school and have to cross where the new crossing is going to be put ( or further down where it is safer) .

Cars come speeding around that corner sometimes in the morning from the main road, you have to be extra on your guard whilst we cross .

I think that it will also encourage people to walk to school  more, knowing that there are safe places for their children to get over the road to school.

I definately do not think that it is a waste of money, I personaly think that it has been long overdue .

[Jo Scarlett]

Agreed, but Rose Hill has absorbed children from the Peacefield closure and they mostly come from the other side of the road. In the 'olden days' you went to the primary school in your catchment area then you could walk to your primary school without crossing major roads etc.  These days they don't use catchment areas.  Children at Rose Hill & using the Dale site now come from Hawk Green and Woodville area (the whole of Marple actually) and have to cross Stockport Rd.   Many use Middlewood Way and do walk or cycle.  But many parents also do the school run on the way to work and this along with limited parking around the school makes for dangerous crossing for the children.  If an incident was to happen now, given all the money spent on travel surveys etc and the big sell on a new super school in north Marple SMBC would be in the firing line.

Surely there are much bigger issues than challenging the merits of a crossing?

[chicken lady]

in fairness, there have been 2 primary schools there for many years, with parents and children having to cross the road in order to get to the schools, without even a crossing person on Dale Road. I agree the roads are busy, but as a resident of Dale Road, I think that the traffic is mostly at school start and finish times and if more parents and children walked to school the roads would be safer for us all. And perhaps healthier too!

[Jo Scarlett]

I agree with comments regarding the Marple Hall students not noticing or using the new crossing.

However, in the councils defence I think it's probably more to do with the fact that there are two primary schools (one school, but on two sites and some 400+ children) which use Dale Road.  There was a traffic survey done last year and there where concerns raised regarding the safety of primary children crossing some of the busy local roads whilst getting to school, so I'd guess that this work has been done for this purpose.

[sooty2]

Its like everything else Jay,Because they can. Im lost for words unusually!

[Jay]

Does anyone know why they are installing a crossing where Dale Road meets Stockport road? If it's for the Kids from Marple Hall they probably won't even notice it's there as they don't seem to notice the road's there! I think it's a waste of money when the roads round Marple are in such a state. Driving on the bottom part of Church Lane and Hibbert Lane is like off roading. Maybe the council could pay for another sign to go on Stockport road that reads 'Temporary Road Surface' though out Marple!