Kincardine: Major traffic changes in High Street area

The direction of travel on High Street will be reversed, bus stops moved, parking restrictions amended and a new cyclepath installed.

And there are moves to ensure disruption for locals is minimised with a separate £16 million project on the Kincardine Bridge also due to begin next year.

At the South and West Fife area committee last week, Keith Johnston, a technical engineer in the council's traffic management department, explained: "A few years ago, a charrette was carried out in the town which brought local people, organisations and businesses together to discuss how they would like the area to look and develop into a better place to live, work and visit."

With planning permission now in place for a series of environmental improvements in the High Street area, councillors were asked to approve the relevant traffic orders.

He told committee members: "The key changes to the traffic layout include simplifying the traffic signal junction at High Street, Feregait and the North Approach Road.

"As part of that, it's proposed to reverse the direction of traffic on High Street to operate from north to south and the bus stops will be relocated to the North Approach Road.

"Another key feature is to link the waterfront to Devilla Forest with a cycle route that travels along High Street.

"To accommodate that, it's proposed to introduce a contraflow cycle lane on High Street.

"The service road that operates round Garvies pub still needs to be available for loading and access so we'll introduce a no motor vehicles prohibition on that section of the road but have exemptions for access and loading to allow that to happen."

Parking restrictions will be amended and Mr Johnston said: "That includes a no waiting and no loading at any time restriction on most of the North Approach Road.

"This is because the carriageway will be narrowed and Transport Scotland require this route to be free of parked vehicles due to the road classification.

"Throughout the whole area, the parking space numbers are generally being retained and there's a new parking layby proposed on North Approach Road which will provide some parking for local residents.

"As it's likely to be quite attractive for commuters to use, it's proposed to introduce a time limit on the layby with an exemption for residents. This exemption matches the same restrictions that we have on High Street and that allows them to have two permits per household and there's no charge."

At the request of locals, the parking bays with a three-hour parking time limit will be reduced to two hours and the officer said the carriageway level of the High Street would be raised, which requires a road hump order.

Asked how long the work would take, Mr Johnston said he would need to check but added that steps would be taken to minimise disruption for local residents and businesses.

The contract for the £16m works at Kincardine Bridge is set to be awarded in January and Transport Scotland's Graeme Paget told councillors that they had spoken to the consultants working on the High Street improvements to ensure the projects "don't clash".