Pedestrians in Swansea will soon have better links between the city centre and the waterfront.
New pedestrian crossing facilities across Oystermouth Road at its junction with West Way are expected to be ready for use in the next 10 days as part of the ambitious boulevard scheme.
The boulevard scheme is aimed at generating better links between the waterfront and the city centre while maintaining traffic flow along the main road. It will also see wider pavements introduced as well as a tree-lined central reservation and better cycling links.
The look of the junction is being improved with high-quality paving on each side of the carriageway.
The road surface is also being marked out to clearly show the pedestrian route and new trees will be planted in the area in the autumn.
The new crossing is similar to pelican crossings but has detectors that can tell when people are waiting to cross.
The detectors watch the crossing and control the light signals to ensure pedestrians and cyclists can cross in safety.
A similar puffin crossing has been already been introduced over Victoria Road from the bottom of Wind Street area over to the Maritime Quarter as part of the boulevard scheme.
Motorists will also benefit from the scheme because the lights will change back quickly once people have finished crossing and traffic isn’t stopped if someone presses the button and doesn’t cross.
Overhead signage above the new crossing will clearly mark out the route to the city centre for motorists. The signs will show traffic travelling west that the two right-hand lanes are for access to the city centre with the inner two lanes dedicated to westbound traffic.
This means the number of signs on the ground can be reduced to leave less clutter and obstruction for pavement users.
Cllr Gareth Sullivan, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and Planning, said: “One of the key aims of the boulevard is to develop better links between the city centre and the waterfront and having improved pedestrian crossings will help meet that objective.
“Oystermouth Road currently acts as a barrier between the city centre shops and our stunning seafront and these crossings mean we’re doing all we can to encourage as many people as possible to walk back and forth between the two areas.
“The paving at the new crossing will give a good example of the materials that may be considered along the boulevard route.”
Funding for the boulevard scheme is provided by European Convergence and the Welsh Government and forms part of the larger Waterfront City Convergence funded project.
