4 days ago
Penrith A66 traffic problems hitting businesses, says BID
Businesses are losing over £100,000 each Friday due to traffic congestion, according to a business Broad, chair of Penrith's Business Improvement District (BID), said queues on and around the A66 were putting people off coming into Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner David Allen also said gridlocked traffic was increasing emergency response times.A plan to turn the whole of the A66 between Penrith and Scotch Corner into dual carriageway is currently under review.
Mr Broad said the BID estimated it cost each business in town £300-500 every Friday, when the traffic is at its worst, and that this amounted to over £100,000 in total."Penrith in effect on a Friday becomes a place to avoid," he said.
According to Mr Broad, the problem is caused by large volumes of tourist traffic, along with freight, using the A66 at Kemplay Bank roundabout and junction 40 of the believes traffic flow measures should be used to stop Kemplay Bank becoming "like a car park".Cumbria's police and fire and rescue services both have their headquarters next to Kemplay Bank Mr Allen said, while his teams met their response targets, it took longer to get to incidents when the roads were said: "If you were leaving police headquarters in a non-emergency scenario, it can take 30 minutes just to get 300 yards to the roundabout."
Some locals have suggested switching off the traffic lights at Kemplay Bank or using a yellow hatched box to improve traffic Highways, which manages the A66, said traffic lights improved congested roundabouts and a recent inspection of those at Kemplay Bank "detected no issues".
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