City of York Council is to stage a trial of measures designed to ease pedestrian congestion between the city centre and York railway station after a consultation of users backed plans for improvements.

The route is one of the city's busiest and in September the council unveiled a package of improvements which it hopes will dramatically ease crowding along the approach to the railway station at Station Road and Station Avenue - used by more than 7,000 pedestrian commuters, tourists and other visitors every day.

The two-stage feasibility trial is to begin on Monday, February 18 and will last for three weeks.

Stage one will try out the proposed modifications to Station Avenue only plus changed signalling arrangements. Stage two will add the proposed modifications to Station Road.

The council's ideas include widening existing footways, narrowing short stretches of the road, improving bus waiting areas, tackling obstructive street furniture and making the route more attractive and easier to walk with re-paving. Also included is a review of signal controlled crossing arrangements to help relieve congestion by spreading pedestrian traffic more easily across both sides of the route.

Colin Knight, the council's head of transport planning, said, "This is one of York's busiest pedestrian routes but also a particularly narrow one. This is an issue of safety with pedestrians having to pass each other with their backs to the traffic.

"The idea of the three week trial is to see how all the modifications, changed signalling arrangements and so on work together hopefully without adversely affecting traffic congestion in the area. In our consultation last year there was 80 percent support for these improvements."

Pedestrians, bus and coach companies and their customers, taxi firms, other motorists and employers in the area were all involved in the consultation.

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