Station for 26 Buses on Works Site
Page 57
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A BUS station with accommodation for
26 vehicles has been built by Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., at their works at Billingham, Co. Durham. which occupies about 1,100' acres and employs some 17,000 people. It is probably the largest integrated chemical plant in the British Commonwealth, with an output of 2m. tons a year, and continual expansion has caused difficulties in the movement of both products and workpeople.
The factory site is ringed by railway tracks. Admirable though this arrangement is, as regards the inward and outward movement of rail traffic, it obstructs road vehicles, which carry an equal amount of raw material and finished products. There are, in fact, only three major road entrances to the works, and these must be used by both transport and staff,
Since the war, the East Gate, on the Stockton-Haverton Hill road, has become one of the busiest_ Originally served by a subway below the railway track suitable only for pedestrians and cyclists, it was later developed into a controlled level crossing. A survey cai:ried out in August. 1955, showed that the gate was used by an average of 1,500 road vehicles daily and that rail traffic accounted for daily
stoppages of lorries of up to three hours. During the peak hour of the morning, some 250 vehicles had to be dealt with by the gate staff.
Congestion was apt to reach saturation point when the "day men" left the factory at 4.30 p.m., so that all motor traffic had to be halted for a quarter of an hour. Bus queues forming on the narrow, winding road outside the factory added to the dangers of serious accident.
The situation was greatly cased by the decision of Durham County Council to build a new railway bridge at Haverton Hill South and a new section of road, at a higher level, to serve the factory. It was then practicable for I.C.I. to build a bridge connecting the works and the new road, over the railway track, and at the same time to improve the gate control arrangements.
The scheme has made possible the con
struction of the bus station immediately in front of the entrance gates. It has the accepted staggered layout, with concrete and glass shelters erected on islands. There is adequate MOM for a one-way traffic system for works buses, as well as incoming and outgoing roads for corn• mercial traffic. Incoming lorries can be parked in a lay-by where they arc checked, and a new weighbridge has been installed,
in operation, the new East Gate arrangement has effects extending beyond those of mere convenience. The gate now becomes the principal entrance to the factory, allowing rearrangements to be made to the traffic flow on the narrower service roads within the works.
The road link to the wharves on the River Tees has been improved and the volume of heavy traffic passing through the streets of Billingham village has been much reduced. Not least, the new commercial-vehicle entrance is close to the company's road transport depot, recently completed on a nearby site.