Bristol’s Clean Air Zone begins in ten days but one stretch of road included within the zone has been taken out - but only for motorists who drive on it for 230 yards.
It means the section of Coronation Road as it passes between the Asda Bedminster store and the River Avon will be both within the Clean Air Zone and not in the Clean Air Zone at the same time - depending on which way a driver is travelling and where they are going at the time.
The potentially confusing situation has arisen because of the two and a half year long closure of another road half an hour away. Back in January this year, the northbound side of the A38 was closed at the start of Malago Road in Bedminster - a closure that will be in place until at least the summer of 2024.
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The knock-on effect of that closure means that there is no viable alternative route for motorists to access the homes and industrial units in the Whitehouse Lane area of Bedminster without entering the Clean Air Zone, even though this area of BS3 between Bedminster Parade and the railway line is not part of the zone itself.
It appears that, as a workaround, Bristol City Council has created a specific diversion for drivers that does involve entering the Clean Air Zone, but leaving it again 230 yards later.
A map graphic showing the diversion route is being shared on social media in the Bedminster area. It shows the alternative access to the Whitehouse Lane area is for drivers to travel to St John’s Road, past the entrance to Bedminster Asda, and then turn right onto Coronation Road. For all drivers, this traffic light controlled junction is the start of the Clean Air Zone and motorists travelling onto Coronation Road in either direction from St John’s Lane will have to have paid the £9 or £100 charge before they make that trip, or risk a £120 fine. However, the diversion graphic appears to suggest that motorists who turn right onto Coronation Road, and then take the first right back down New Charlotte Street, won’t be liable to pay the Clean Air Zone charge.
They can then travel down New Charlotte Street and then turn right onto Bedminster Parade and Malago Road, to access Whitehouse Lane and the streets and industrial units off it.
Drivers travelling east from further along Coronation Road will already have entered the Clean Air Zone, and will still be liable for the charge, while drivers who don't turn right down New Charlotte Street but continue on to Bedminster Bridge will have to pay the charge.
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It is not yet clear how the council and its CAZ cameras positioned at the St John's Road junction will be able to distinguish between motorists who make that manoeuvre 230 yards down the road, and the motorists who turn onto Coronation Road and continue to Bedminster Bridge roundabout. It is also not clear whether shoppers at Asda who leave the store's car park onto Coronation Road travelling in the other direction, and then immediately turn left onto St John's Road will be liable for the Clean Air Zone charge or will be clocked by the CAZ cameras.
Bristol City Council is understood to be in the process of removing a section of the central reservation kerb on Coronation Road that prevents motorists from turning right from Coronation Road into New Charlotte Street, to make the right turn possible.
Bristol Live has asked Bristol City Council several times this week for clarification on a number of points around this anomaly with the Clean Air Zone, and the suggested alternative route, and is awaiting a response.
Read next:
- Where the borders for the scheme will fall street by street
- When will the CAZ charges operate
- Clean Air Zone start date finally announced
- Clean Air Zone fee and how people will be charged
- Bristol Clean Air Zone timeline: the story so far as start date finally announced
- Thousands of drivers 'caught' in Clean Air Zone every day in council test
- Camera error sends Clean Air Zone warning letters to drivers who've never been to Bristol
- Clean Air Zone and underground metro will make cycling safer claim council chiefs
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