AN unpopular zebra crossing will be replaced with traffic lights before the end of the year, the county council’s cabinet member for highways has said.

Councillor Alan Amos yesterday revealed to the Worcester News that plans for a controlled pedestrian crossing on Pheasant Street, near Asda, are at the design stage and will be completed before 2020.

This comes just weeks after the zebra crossing on Croft Road, between the Hive and racecourse, was replaced with traffic lights as part of a £3.2million grant from the Department of Transport.

The council hopes to improve congestion on the troublesome road, with the work also including the removal of a roundabout.

Cllr Amos couldn’t reveal at this point how much the Pheasant Street work would cost or where exactly the money has come from – whether part of the annual budget or in some form of grant.

However, he said it is part of the council’s “priority” to “deal with congestion” across the county.

“Now we have got the Croft Road crossing done, we are moving onto the next one,” he said.

“We are at the design stage – we’ve had a safety audit done so we know what is best for the crossing. What we can and can’t do. Obviously, pedestrian safety is the number one priority. We have got to deal with the traffic issues.

He went on to say: “I have just had a meeting regarding congestion problems in the county. It is a priority and we have the money to do the scheme.

“We have worked very hard behind the scenes to deal with this. It’s going to be a new pedestrian crossing to hopefully improve the traffic flow.”

Cllr Amos said he and his colleagues have consulted with other parties including First Bus, before emphasising that the council had made an extra £5 million available in their last budget for congestion schemes.

He said the work follows that on the A44, including the Sidbury junction, and now that the audit is done and funding ready, highways bosses can “get on with it”.

Earlier this week, we featured city resident Richard Wyke, who said he refused to believe the council’s promises regarding crossing improvements.

Mr Wyke said a number of assurances have been made in recent years regarding several crossings in Worcester, including the Pheasant Street one.

Earlier this month, Jon Fraser, of the county council’s highways department, had said changes to the crossing near the superstore are “being considered as part of improvement plans for the area”.

“As soon as these plans are confirmed later this year, we will be sharing the information with residents and businesses,” he added.

But Mr Wyke said he was told by numerous council representatives as long as 18 months ago, that the Asda crossing would be changed, potentially to traffic lights.

“I was told they had the funding now to improve traffic flow systems, including the Asda crossing. It was all ready to happen, but nothing’s ever happened.”

He said about three years ago, the council had made similar promises and he believes it is “lip service being used to appease residents”.

“If the councillors drive through town and see the crossing, they will see the tailbacks blocking up the flow of traffic. Morning, lunchtime, the evening, Saturdays.

“It doesn’t take anyone with a degree in logic to see that something needs to be done.”

He said the nearby timed traffic lights on City Walls Road would be ideal on Pheasant Street.

“Since the Asda opened with the crossing, they said they would monitor it but they’ve never bothered about it since. The footfall there is causing traffic jams. It could be solved by timed lights.

“It wasn’t short sighted when they put it in, but over the years it’s becoming a problem because traffic is getting snarled up. And then you’ve got the people who have no idea about the highway code and just cross without waiting.

“One day some one is going to get mowed down and a motorist will be blamed.”