Work on the second phase of City of York Council's trial improvements to the pedestrian route from York railway station will get underway on Monday (February 25).

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 people daily.

The two-stage feasibility trial began on Monday (February 18) and will last for three weeks.

The first stage has been trying out proposed modifications to Station Avenue plus changed signalling arrangements. Stage two will add the proposed modifications to the section of Station Road which runs from outside the Royal York Hotel down to the traffic lights at the junction with Station Rise. This second phase will link up with the first section for the rest of the trial.

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.

Colin Knight, the council's head of transport planning, said, "The idea of the three week trial is to see how all the modifications, changed signalling arrangements and so on work together. In our consultation last year there was 80 percent support for these improvements."

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