Work on the A259 though Rye has meant overnight closures between between Skinners and Kettle O’ Fish roundabouts. During the day there’s also no parking along Strand Quay – usually there’s a long line of parked cars. Tony Roi hopes that continues:
“It is Wednesday and all morning traffic along The Strand has been flowing freely with no HGV’s struggling to transit the quay side. If this free-flowing traffic tells us one thing, it is that parking should not be permitted on this main road around Rye.”
What do you think?
The road repairs on the A259 continue until November 8. The next day it will be closed again for Rye Bonfire on Saturday November 9.
Image Credits: Tony Roi .
How much better does the traffic flow around this part of the A259 without cars parked on the strand? The highways really should look at making this area all double lined.
Then just need to get the selfish parkers to stop blocking South Undercliffe and the whole of Rye’s traffic would flow considerably easier !
I would have agreed with you but manning the desk in the Heritage Centre, we’ve seen cars roaring down this stretch since the works began.
Free flowing traffic can work, all it needs is an active camera such as the one in the Bourne going into Hastings, how many people speed through there.
I’ve never understood why parking and stopping are allowed on the A roads that cross Rye anyway. I’d also have Ferry/Udimore Road free of parking and stopping all the way from the railway to the Valley Park roundabout, both sides. The parked and stopped cars and delivery vans on increasingly busy roads like these create all kinds of hazardous situations. Do we really have to wait till there are deaths to make changes?
But it’s all part of a much bigger picture of changes that could make Rye better for tourists and residents alike. Pedestrianize the upper part of the town, and set up a shuttle system to bring visitors to and from improved car parking areas. Improve public transport to and from local villages, so people don’t have to use their cars. Reinstate double tracks on the Marshlink route and run trains more frequently. Expand enforcement of parking rules to a wider area of Rye (it is making a difference in the upper part of the town) but at the same time think about how residents’ parking could be improved. Put a stop to parking, stopping, bins, and bikes on all pedestrian routes, and find ways to make life easier for wheelchair and mobility scooter users. Prioritize pedestrians while making provision for people who can’t walk far.
Every one of these things will involve complex negotiations, and there needs to be someone — some agency perhaps — sitting in the driving seat (pun intended) with enough clout to deal with the patchwork of interests and factions that stop progress from being made. Pie in the sky thinking, perhaps, but I see that kind of thinking happening elsewhere so why not in Rye?
Pedestrianising areas just makes them completely inaccessible for those with mobility issues who do not own a mobility scooter/have the luxury of a portable mobility scooter that can be brought with them or someone physically able enough to push them in a wheelchair.
I agree, there would have to be some thought put into how residents and visitors with mobility issues could access the town (already difficult due to the features of a medieval town center). As I said, pedestrianization would need to go hand in hand with a shuttle service running to and from improved parking facilities. You can’t just do one thing and not think of all the ramifications, which is why I was asking for some kind of central leadership to make the town better for the future. At the moment progress is constantly halted by precisely what you just did — stop at the bit you didn’t like and raise an objection without reading through the whole article and reaching the bit where I wrote: “Prioritize pedestrians while making provision for people who can’t walk far.” There are an awful lot of people who can’t walk far in Rye, and unfortunately only some of them park responsibly; a well-thought-out system would spare their legs while allowing the rest of the population to move around unhindered.
I too am hoping that the free car parking at all times on strand quay is discontinued after the work is done.
I have seen too many queues of lorries busses and cars belting out CO2 ON that small stretch because the cars can’t get past each other other
Have 3 bays only on Strand Quay,and the rest of the road double yellows, that will cause less congestion,and act as a deterant to stop speeding motorists.