As we move into the summer holidays, the biggest issue for Chamber remains the ongoing resurfacing work on the Tamar Bridge. Last Friday, 8 July, the Joint Committee held a key stakeholder meeting to allow questions to be asked regarding the project. As could have been expected, the majority of them concerned Saltash as the impact of the works is felt most keenly here by our retailers, our taxi drivers and our hauliers.
Much is being done to mitigate the delays we face with just three lanes open and 3000 cars per hour crossing the bridge. One particular change is the heavier use of ‘tidal flow’ traffic management to respond to queues and heavy traffic with around 35 lane changes a day compared to 10. Keeping traffic moving through the tunnel is also a key concern for safety reasons, and why it’s prioritised. Traffic needs to continue to merge in turn from Saltash.
Bluetooth sensors at Carkeel and St Budeaux keep track of journey times but without any in Saltash, and visibility restricted to just the bottom half of Fore Street from the bridge control centre, it’s difficult to track how gridlocked the town becomes. Additional sensors are on their way and locations will include Fore Street and North Road. CCTV is a further option which will future-proof the town for other pipeline projects on the bridge.
Any readers who would like to submit questions for the next stakeholder meeting can write to chair@saltashchamber.co.uk. In the meantime, the updates on the Bridge Authority website and Facebook page very often contain explanations for a lot of the questions we all have.
SaltFest 2021
Chamber meetings are held the first Monday of each month and this time, we had the important decision to take on whether we continue with plans to hold the new SaltFest event or postpone. The decision to continue was unanimous but we are working hard to make sure that this first community event since Covid struck is the success we all deserve it to be. That said, it all needs funding and we have 6000 raffle tickets to sell with great cash prizes! Please dig deep and make this an event to remember. Get your tickets from The Bookshelf, Eclectic at Home, Nicky’s Glow Beads and CEPL12 at 4, Fore Street.
Networking event in August
It was exciting to meet back in person for July’s meeting at China Fleet which became a ‘Hybrid’ meeting with some remote attendees – it worked very well and we will continue to offer Zoom access to our meetings. Rather than break for August, we will be holding a networking event on Fore Street. All businesses are welcome and we will update our Facebook with the details.
