Those behind the plans were quizzed about the reliability of their modelling and asked whether the changes were justifiable during a meeting of the St Helier Roads Committee, at which the Our Hospital team gave a presentation about the proposed alterations.
Jersey’s first bus lane has been proposed within the plans – which could be created on the westbound side of the Esplanade near to La Frégate – as well as a ‘parallel crossing’, a zebra crossing for both cyclists and pedestrians, near to the West Park apartments.
And it was revealed that a multi-storey car park could be built at the Overdale site, with all parking areas collectively providing 175 spaces for patients and 325 for staff.
Around 12 parking spaces will be lost around the People’s Park area but, it was explained yesterday, spaces currently taken by users of the existing hospital in
Patriotic Street would probably be freed up.
In order to prevent the creation of a ‘rat run’ along Tower Road, the Our Hospital team plan to make the route a ‘no right turn’ into Westmount Road.
However, this was a point that sparked concern among some members of the roads committee, including former States Member Ted Vibert.
In a series of frank questions, he said: ‘I understand you are not going to be allowed to turn right from Tower Road into Westmount Road.
‘That means that everyone who lives in that area is going to have to go into town to get to the hospital. Some of these people live no more than 400 yards away from the [proposed] hospital.
‘How can you justify something like that in terms of traffic management?’
In response, Jessica Hardwick, a member of the Our Hospital team, said: ‘In terms of the Tower Road suggestion … it has been modelled and we are trying to balance and we may have got that balance wrong – and if you think we have, then we can take that [point] away.
‘What we are trying to balance is the increase in traffic on Tower Road to access the hospital against a resident who would have to visit the hospital once in a while who would have to go into town.’
Mr Vibert also questioned whether traffic modelling had been conducted for all roads within town or just those around the site of the proposed new hospital.
He said: ‘You really have given us nothing of comfort to show that we are not going to get a wholesale traffic jam through town.’
In response, Ms Hardwick said: ‘Speaking to the first point about how we have done this [the studies] and theoretical situations and how they have been guesstimated – we have not.
‘We have gone out, we have done surveys, we have produced a model that has been validated through the survey information.
‘If you have evidence that you have seen in the traffic modelling and think there is something in there that is not correct, we would be very interested in having a discussion and can have a look at what we can do to sort that out.’
