New owners for Sunderland’s The Bridges shopping centre in £152million deal.

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/busin...-1-6690800


Wonder if we will finally get the extension to where the old leisure centre used to be!

let's hope they can attract good stores to, wouldn't mind a G-star, Levi's or House of Fraser in the bridges, saves me going to the Metrocentre.

(24 Jun 2014, 9:18 am)Michael wrote New owners for Sunderland’s The Bridges shopping centre in £152million deal.

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/busin...-1-6690800


Wonder if we will finally get the extension to where the old leisure centre used to be!

let's hope they can attract good stores to, wouldn't mind a G-star, Levi's or House of Fraser in the bridges, saves me going to the Metrocentre.

I don't think anyone will be attracted until the city centre is booming again. it's a deterrent in its current state.

(24 Jun 2014, 7:49 pm)AIG20 wrote Sunderland certainly isn't as bad as South Shields Town Centre.

South Shields may well be bad but it isn't masquerading as a city centre though is it?

Fawcett Street and John Street have got the potential to be really nice but both look dull and derelict.

This is with the exception of Sunday, August 17, when Wearmouth Bridge will close for 24 hours for resurfacing work.

“There will be a full road and bridge closure from 7am on Sunday to 7am on Monday.”

Wearmouth Bridge will also close overnight from 7.30pm–6am each night from August 18 to 22.

“We thank drivers and business owners for their continued patience, please be assured that the City Council will continue to work with contractors to do what it can to keep traffic flows moving,” said Coun Watson.

More about this here: http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/busin...-1-6713140

(05 Jul 2014, 1:30 pm)AIG20 wrote I wonder how the buses, especially stagecoach buses, will cope with this!!! The only to solutions are to divert via the Queen Alexandra Bridge and Pallion New Road; or to withdraw the evening services while this happens - which is unlikely.

Do you think it is worth having a shuttle bus or two?
Traffic will be heavy - so to assist with timings and to avoid too many delays on cross-river services, services could be terminated either side of the bridge at Wheatsheaf and Fawcett/John St.
The shuttle buses could link both sides of the river, connecting with the short running services.

(05 Jul 2014, 1:44 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Do you think it is worth having a shuttle bus or two?
Traffic will be heavy - so to assist with timings and to avoid too many delays on cross-river services, services could be terminated either side of the bridge at Wheatsheaf and Fawcett/John St.
The shuttle buses could link both sides of the river, connecting with the short running services.

I think the hospitals in question could conduct a survey among employees -

A) to see how many use the bus to get to work
B) to see where the majority travel from

Then they could submit something?

(05 Jul 2014, 1:44 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Do you think it is worth having a shuttle bus or two?
Traffic will be heavy - so to assist with timings and to avoid too many delays on cross-river services, services could be terminated either side of the bridge at Wheatsheaf and Fawcett/John St.
The shuttle buses could link both sides of the river, connecting with the short running services.

I'm not sure about this one.

It'd keep the passengers who aren't travelling to town happy, but I imagine they'd be a bit peeved if they had to get off their bus which they caught into town (if travelling across the river), wait for a shuttle bus (what would the frequency be for this shuttle bus - in total there's about 50-60 buses per hour at Monkwearmouth?), get on the shuttle bus and wait in traffic, get off again and then wait for the bus they were on before to continue their journey.

One option would be to terminate buses at St Peters on the north side, and run Metros at a high frequency over the evening. They pretty much have the line to themselves at that time of night, so should be able to put some one off services in. If the Wearmouth bridge is closed then everyone will be using the Alex bridge, and it'll be completely bottlenecked on the north side. Operators would be on a hiding to nothing even attempting to go over that way. Chester/Hylton Rd/A19 wouldn't be practical either, as there's a load of potential dead mileage.

(05 Jul 2014, 2:44 pm)Dan wrote I'm not sure about this one.

It'd keep the passengers who aren't travelling to town happy, but I imagine they'd be a bit peeved if they had to get off their bus which they caught into town (if travelling across the river), wait for a shuttle bus (what would the frequency be for this shuttle bus - in total there's about 50-60 buses per hour at Monkwearmouth?), get on the shuttle bus and wait in traffic, get off again and then wait for the bus they were on before to continue their journey.

Or stand waiting for a bus, which along with 59 others, which is stuck in traffic on the other side of the river.

Changing buses must be the lesser of two evils - it keeps buses in an even keel and helps reduce any regulation.

Not sure of any other solutions.

Traffic on st marys again due to roadworks.

Police on the bridge, looking over it, not sure whats happened.

Work has started next to the bingo in the city centre, all the shops are fenced off and work is happening from the side.

Bit info on the choice of names for the new square:

Keel Square / Yard – a “Keel Line” is the backbone of a ship and the name of one of the new artworks that will feature in the square

Voyager Place / Square – a journey to a distant destination

Vector Place / Square – a vector is a line drawn on a ships chart to represent both its magnitude and direction. It is a ‘line into the future’

Unity Place / Square – the joining of two sides, and the friendship and union of people

Swan Place / Square – a reference to Sunderland born Joseph Swan who invented the incandescent light bulb

Vista Place / Square – a pleasing view; a long narrow view between rows of trees or buildings

Victory Place / Square – a success or triumph in a struggle against odds or difficulties

Sandrail Place / Square – the name of the steel vessel created to support the construction of the pier at Roker

Venerable Place / Square – reference to HMS Venerable, on which Jack Crawford of Sunderland served, and Venerable Bede

(05 Jul 2014, 3:56 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Or stand waiting for a bus, which along with 59 others, which is stuck in traffic on the other side of the river.

Changing buses must be the lesser of two evils - it keeps buses in an even keel and helps reduce any regulation.

Not sure of any other solutions.

I'd say operating a shuttle bus Wearmouth Bridge-Sunderland Interchange would be the only option. Doubled decked operation I imagine. Have all services terminating at North Bridge Street like 35's to Houghton/Hetton, then shuttle bus to interchange the 35's back the other way.

(08 Jul 2014, 8:54 pm)Drifter60 wrote I'd say operating a shuttle bus Wearmouth Bridge-Sunderland Interchange would be the only option. Doubled decked operation I imagine. Have all services terminating at North Bridge Street like 35's to Houghton/Hetton, then shuttle bus to interchange the 35's back the other way.

Pretty much how I envisaged it to be honest.

There may be another option (like aureolin's metro idea), but sending every cross river service over the river, is just going to make the situation worse.

The only other solution - would be to restrict the bridge to buses only. All other vehicles would then be diverted via the a19.
How it would be managed, is another thing.

According to the Ed's diner site, the one in the bridges is opening in September... i can't wait that long!

(09 Jul 2014, 3:16 pm)Michael wrote According to the Ed's diner site, the one in the bridges is opening in September... i can't wait that long!

They have one in the Metrocentre

Get yourself along there man.

(09 Jul 2014, 3:24 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote They have one in the Metrocentre

Get yourself along there man.

Being many times!

Their pull porked burger is the best.

It's just the one in the metrocentre is a clart on to get to from Sunderland, i can only go to the metrocentre if i fancy going... if you know what i mean!

(09 Jul 2014, 3:25 pm)Michael wrote Being many times!

Their pull porked burger is the best

Have you tried the American Diner on the a19 before the Wolviston junction?

You can only get there by car, but it is good.

(09 Jul 2014, 3:27 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Have you tried the American Diner on the a19 before the Wolviston junction?

You can only get there by car, but it is good.

I haven't, iv'e being past it a few times while being in my mates car.

Also Muffin Break is opening soon, this is next to the HMV/Disney store, the area its in , is where they normally have promotions activities i:e where the indoor beach was.

Excuse me chaps not going to talk about the Metro Centre as I bloody hate it.

But Stagecoach and Go North East tweeted about talks about about the congestion at the Wearmouth Bridge.

Then they tweeted saying it was eaiser now. Then SC SS ops started pulling E services again.

Any idea what happened chaps?

Put it in here as it seemed best place than duplicating post in GNE & SC sub forums.

(09 Jul 2014, 4:10 pm)idiot wrote Excuse me chaps not going to talk about the Metro Centre as I bloody hate it.

But Stagecoach and Go North East tweeted about talks about about the congestion at the Wearmouth Bridge.

Then they tweeted saying it was eaiser now. Then SC SS ops started pulling E services again.

Any idea what happened chaps?

Put it in here as it seemed best place than duplicating post in GNE & SC sub forums.

They are working on the roundabout on St Mary's, the one which connects to the bridge.. i also heard they have changed the traffic light system - making it worse.

the bridge will close over night some times for road markings etc

Not sure when this part of the work will be done.

Would of being easier, taking the roundabout up and replacing it with a square junction.

I knew where they are working Michael was asking does anyone know if they came up with a solution?

(09 Jul 2014, 5:16 pm)idiot wrote I knew where they are working Michael was asking does anyone know if they came up with a solution?

The bus operators haven't come up with a solution. Both operators have contacted the council, and the council isn't doing anything to help.

Suggestions have been made by members of this forum; including terminating in the City Centre and St. Peter's, with shuttle services running in between, and another has been to divert via the Queen Alexandra Bridge and go via Deptford.

(09 Jul 2014, 5:16 pm)idiot wrote I knew where they are working Michael was asking does anyone know if they came up with a solution?

Sorry, i thought you were asking what was happening.

(09 Jul 2014, 5:19 pm)Dan wrote The bus operators haven't come up with a solution. Both operators have contacted the council, and the council isn't doing anything to help.

Suggestions have been made by members of this forum; including terminating in the City Centre and St. Peter's, with shuttle services running in between, and another has been to divert via the Queen Alexandra Bridge and go via Deptford.

There's a surprise!

Thanks Dan.

The way the tweets came out I thought they had come up with a magic solution lol...

No bother Michael. My bad I should of worded it better. Between Thurs & Sun last weekend I waited sorry wasted about 2 hours of my life stuck in various parts of St Marys Way, Wearmouth Bridge, Dame Dot Street and the road down to the East End (can't remember what its called).

(09 Jul 2014, 5:20 pm)Michael wrote There's a surprise!

Not sure what they could do though - building dedicated 'bus lanes' during peak periods would only cause the traffic for cars to backlog behind the bridge and the buses would therefore be unable to get onto the bridge anyway.

The roundabout on the other side of the bridge has always been a nightmare, even before any work was done. Neither buses nor cars pay attention to the road markings, and if you stand near the roundabout for about 10 minutes, I guarantee you will witness at least two near misses.

(09 Jul 2014, 5:24 pm)Dan wrote Not sure what they could do though - building dedicated 'bus lanes' during peak periods would only cause the traffic for cars to backlog behind the bridge and the buses would therefore be unable to get onto the bridge anyway.

The roundabout on the other side of the bridge has always been a nightmare, even before any work was done. Neither buses nor cars pay attention to the road markings, and if you stand near the roundabout for about 10 minutes, I guarantee you will witness at least two near misses.

Tbh same, taking all the buses to the other bridge will only make that area worse, think we will have to live with it until the whole road is complete

Still think they should of took the roundabout up and replaced it with a square junction, although doing that it will make it even worse

(09 Jul 2014, 5:30 pm)Michael wrote Tbh same, taking all the buses to the other bridge will only make that area worse, think we will have to live with it until the whole road is complete

Still think they should of took the roundabout up and replaced it with a square junction, although doing that it will make it even worse

What are they doing with it again?

I thought they were completely removing it and having it as a three-way traffic light junction?

(09 Jul 2014, 5:58 pm)Dan wrote What are they doing with it again?

I thought they were completely removing it and having it as a three-way traffic light junction?

I have no idea Dan, i thought they were changing it so it was inline with the new road.

I might have a pop over tomorrow to see if there's being much progress.

Does anyone know if the plans have changed at all since 2011 for the Wearmouth Bridge roundabout?

There is a plan on page 25 of 59 of the book (31 of 72 of the actual PDF).


It says that two-way traffic would be instigated on Bridge Street, which potentially allows buses direct access from Fawcett Street to the Wearmouth Bridge. While I like the idea in that buses may not have to traverse around High Street West, Bedford Street and West Wear Street, I'm wondering if the shorter / more direct route via Bridge Street would cause greater congestion in Fawcett Street, exaggerated possibly by long signal dwell times at the bridgehead junction. If the 8/20 continue to stay at the bottom end of Fawcett Street, and only the first bus stop used in Fawcett Street for the 19/23/E1/E2/E6 & 35, could the top two bus stops in Fawcett Street be discontinued, freeing up the road-space for two northbound exit lanes?

"Wearmouth Bridgehead Signalisation involves the conversion of the A1018 Wearmouth Bridge / A1018 West Wear Street / A183 St Mary’s Way roundabout to signal control. The scheme includes a new bus lane from Wearmouth Bridge southbound to West Wear Street southbound, a dedicated free-flow slip from Vaux Boulevard to Wearmouth Bridge northbound (hugely benefiting the Sunderland Connect 700/701!), and a revised layout at the junction of West Wear Street. This layout is presented in Figure 4-6."

Despite my reservations at the time, the Wheatsheaf gyratory changes have proved successful. Fingers crossed this scheme too won't serve any major traffic headaches upon completion!