SOUTH Gloucestershire Council is planning to remove a ban on HGVs using a road in Downend – after continued damage to bollards and railings on the diversion route.
Vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tons are currently not allowed to use Cleeve Road to travel from the traffic lights at the top of Cleeve Hill to the Westerleigh Road double mini-roundabout.
The ban is not in force in the opposite direction.
The council wants to allow lorries to use Cleeve Road because they have caused so much damage trying to get around the corner at the junction of Badminton Road and Westerleigh Road, between the Sainsbury’s Local store and the Horseshoe pub.
In a statement announcing the change, the council said: “In recent months there has been an increase in the number of HGVs taking out these bollards.
“From CCTV it has been shown that the majority of the HGVs are coming from Cleeve Hill and turning right onto the A432 Badminton Road then turn left into Westerleigh Road, to avoid the weight limit on Cleeve Road.”
The council said it is “not possible for the largest HGVs to turn left onto Westerleigh Road from Badminton Road without hitting the bollards or the pedestrian barriers on the crossing,” adding: “The barriers and bollards have already been hit a number of times this year, resulting in expensive repairs.”
It says the purpose of the scheme is to reduce the “frequency of damage and associated maintenance costs” by preventing the bollards and pedestrian barriers from being struck by HGVs.
A three-week public consultation on the plans on the council’s website, consultations.southglos.gov.uk, was set to finish on February 23.
If the scheme goes ahead, work is expected to start in the coming financial year.