Concern over ‘half a pedestrian crossing’ on Alan Shearer Way in Blackburn

Unless you’re trying to cross the road in Ewood that is.

MORE TOP STORIES:

A pensioners’ campaigner and a local councillor have raised concern about ‘half a pedestrian crossing’ on the new Pennine Reach road scheme near Blackburn Rovers’ football ground.

They fear the traffic lights across one half of Alan Shearer Way only allow people to walk safely to the central reservation on the carriageway from Blackburn to Darwen, and not to the far side.

They are asking Blackburn with Darwen Council engineers to look again at the road and traffic signal layout to make crossing the new road safe for people of all mobility.

The £4.1million Ewood Gyratory System on the A666 between the borough’s two towns aims to speed car and bus traffic by simplifying a complex junction and making it safer for pedestrians.

But Brian Todd, who chairs the borough’s Older People’s Forum and the Ewood Community Association, is concerned the new lights opposite the Fox and Hounds pub do not go across both carriageways.

He said: “I watched with interest the Pennine Reach roadworks and was promised a crossing across Alan Shearer Way but the finished work only provides a crossing half-way across the new road.

“You have to take your life in your hands to complete the crossing.

“If you are trying to get across Alan Shearer Way by the Fox and Hounds, you will find that traffic coming from the Darwen direction must be faced with no protection until you come to the centre.

“There miraculously an island has been created and a half-crossing provided for your safety.

“How you are expected to get there, despite the major traffic entering Blackburn from the Darwen direction, I do not know.

Cllr Maureen Bateson, who represents Ewood, said: “I have raised this issue with council officers.

“I am concerned about the safety of people with limited mobility, particularly pensioners.”

A council spokesman said: “This is an uncontrolled crossing with an island reservation providing a halfway refuge between the one lane northbound and the two lanes southbound.

“This is the completed layout. There is no second part to complete.

“Previously, the layout had three lanes northbound on a fast blind bend with a priority lane with no island, crossing facilities or speed reduction features and was much trickier to cross.”