Changes to Stepney Road and Stepney Drive junction in Scarborough 'could lead to more accidents involving pedestrians'

North Yorkshire County Council is consulting on changes to A170 Stepney Road and Stepney Drive roundabout as part of a £4 million improvement scheme on some of the town’s busiest junctions.

The work at the Stepney Road and Stepney Drive junction will include widening the carriageway to provide short lengths of two-lane approaches from Stepney Drive and Stepney Road.

Improvements to the pedestrian dropped kerbs and islands will also be made.

Residents got their chance to quiz county officials at a drop-in event on Wednesday and some voiced their concerns about the lack of traffic light crossings, especially for students attending Scarborough Sixth Form College off the A170.

Jennie Adams, who lives in Stepney Drive, said: “There are three big schools in the area and I don’t think they have thought about pedestrians.

“The speed of traffic will increase due to the extra lanes and the kids all walk to school looking at their phones. There are going to be serious accidents.

“I also don’t understand why they are creating a filter lane for traffic to turn left off Stepney Drive. Since I got the note about the changes I have been counting the traffic and I would say about 2-3% of cars turn left at the roundabout and 1% go straight on. Everyone else turns right onto the A170. I don’t see what the filter lane to go left is going to do or how it will help the traffic flow.”

Her fellow resident David Edwards told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he was broadly supportive of the changes, but also was worried by the lack of crossings with traffic lights.

He added: “There is no consideration for pedestrians and I can’t see it getting better as they are going to be crossing two lanes of traffic. It needs a crossing where you push a button.

“There is no facility [in the plans] for buses to pull in and drop pupils off. There should be a layby.

“I think the rest [of the scheme] to be fair isn’t too bad.”

The work is part of £4 million upgrades that also includes modifications to the junctions at A170 Stepney Road/Falsgrave Road; A171 Scalby Road/Stepney Drive; and A171 Scalby Road/Manor Road roundabout.

The improvements at Scalby Road/Manor Road were completed earlier this year. The whole project is scheduled to be completed by March 2021.

Richard Marr, Area Highways Manager for North Yorkshire County Council, said the authority welcomed the feedback.

He said: “We are pleased that so many people turned up to the consultation meeting. We gathered a wealth of useful comments and are looking into all the points raised, including the comments made about facilities for pedestrians.

“We have yet to hold meetings with the schools, where all the points will be discussed in more detail. We will feedback to residents in due course.”