Stockton Southern Connectivity: Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm

Lots of people live, travel, and work between the popular areas of Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Yarm and Stockton town centre. These areas are well connected to the rest of the Tees Valley by key roads such as the A19, A1045, and A135. However, on our local roads, buses can be delayed, making them more unreliable, especially at busy times. We want to improve safety in our walking, wheeling, and cycling routes and provide more high-quality alternatives to the car.

We want your ideas on how we can improve bus journey times, reduce delays, and improve walking, wheeling, and cycling in the area.

Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm are popular destinations for those living in Stockton-on-Tees, there are also lots of places for people to work and access education.

Thornaby

Thornaby is a key transport hub, with its popular station and areas of employment, such as Teesside Industrial Estate and Teesdale. As a result, there are a lot of people commuting to and from this area. Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council have already developed plans to deliver a joined-up network of cycle routes across Thornaby as part of the Town Deal. This funding will also help Thornaby grow – making the town more attractive for people to visit, support businesses to do well and helping people learn new things. You can find out more information about these proposals here.

We want to connect more people to these exciting projects by making walk, wheel, cycle, and bus journeys in Thornaby easier.

Ingleby Barwick

Ingleby Barwick is a big neighbourhood in Stockton-on-Tees. Due to the number of residents the area can get busy with people travelling to the shops and to nearby towns for employment. When traffic builds up, it can make journeys longer and unreliable, including for buses.

Yarm

Yarm, on the river Tees, is a former market town with a rich history. The town is renowned for its High Street which is popular for its shops and restaurants.

However, the area’s popularity can attract lots of traffic, particularly on the High Street, over Yarm Bridge, and on The Spital. This makes it hard for buses to travel through the High Street reliably. Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council are already looking at ways to improve walking, wheeling, and cycling connections towards Yarm from Durham Lane and Eaglescliffe as part of the Levelling Up Fund. These plans were consulted on back in September 2023 and can be found here. The Council have also proposed a package of enhancements, planned to improve the paved areas on Yarm High Street. This will include new paving and seating to support opportunities for outdoor seating and dining and to promote diverse uses there. The consultation closed in December 2022, but the information can be found here.

We want to complement all these exciting plans and help improve bus, walking, wheeling, and cycling journeys in parts of Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick and Yarm.

For an enlarged version of the map, please click here.

For an enlarged version of the map, please click here.

Current Transport Issues

Many people currently get the bus, walk, wheel, and cycle through the area. However, at times buses can get delayed and can be unreliable. We also think that some gaps can be filled in our current walking, wheeling, and cycling network, to create continuous connected routes for more people to enjoy and access.

We have identified transport issues in the following locations:

Five Lamps Roundabouts to Stockton Town Centre

• The existing walk, wheel, and cycle routes require upgrading and connecting to key destinations such as Thornaby Station, Stockton town centre, and the newly proposed Thornaby Town Deal Cycle Schemes.
• People walking, wheeling, and cycling may find it difficult to cross busy junctions or roundabouts.
• In some locations, cyclists must cycle on the road, which could cause safety concerns.
• Footways can be narrow in places for those wanting to travel by foot or wheel.

Ingleby Way / A1045 Thornaby Road

• During busy periods lots of people travel along Ingleby Way from Ingleby Barwick towards Thornaby and the A19/A174 which causes queuing between the A1045 and Lowfields Avenue Roundabout. This can make it difficult for buses to travel from Lowfields Avenue to the A1045, making journey times longer and unreliable.

Yarm High Street

• Buses get stuck behind slow moving traffic when it is busy making journeys longer and unreliable.
• The High Street can get busy with vehicles parking and loading, meaning vehicles travel slowly in the area.

Parked vehicles can sometimes block bus stops which can make it difficult for people to get on the bus.

Opportunities

We want to help improve bus, walking, wheeling, and cycling journeys and make these more attractive travel options. Here are some opportunities that may help address the issues in this area:

• Introduce measures to give buses priority over other vehicles, such as a dedicated bus lane.
• Traffic light systems that give buses priority at junctions and queue jump lanes.
• We could improve the layout of junctions and roads.
• Changes to bus stops, so that it is easier for buses to rejoin traffic after stopping.
• Introduce dedicated cycle lanes and crossings.
• Improve road crossings for pedestrians, including safer and formalised crossings.
• Improve paths for walking, wheeling, and cycling.
• Improve road safety with traffic calming or reducing speed limits to improve road safety.

These may offer the following benefits:

• Buses can bypass waiting traffic, so they can move ahead more quickly.
• Buses could move through junctions more efficiently.
• Red light waiting times could reduce.
• Quicker journey times for buses using priority measures.
• Less queuing could result in more reliable journeys for all vehicles.
• Safer and more attractive journeys for people walking, wheeling, and cycling.
• Dedicated paths for cyclists mean they do not need to share road space, reducing potential conflicts with other road users.
• Improved walking, wheeling, and cycling links between Stockton town centre, Thornaby Station, and Thornaby town centre.
• Contributes to the delivery of a full and connected network of cycle routes across Stockton.

We recognise that there may be some impacts, these could include:

• Vehicles might need to give-way to buses.
• Cars and other vehicles may have to wait slightly longer at the traffic lights or junctions.
• Roads may need to be narrowed to provide space for walk, wheel, and cycle infrastructure, this may reduce available space for other road users meaning traffic could increase.
• Existing grass verges may need to be reduced.

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