Somerset Council’s highways officers have advised against making significant alterations to the Celebration Mile in Bridgwater, as none of the proposed changes are expected to ease traffic congestion in the town centre.
The Celebration Mile project, designed to stretch from Bridgwater railway station to Northgate Docks, has seen £9 million of government-backed funding from the Bridgwater town deal invested in infrastructure, including one-way systems on Eastover, East Quay, and Salmon Parade.
However, these changes, combined with the cancellation of improvements to the Cross Rifles roundabout, have led to heightened traffic congestion, sparking frustration among local residents and businesses.
In response to a petition signed by over 5,800 people, the full council voted in December 2025 to conduct a comprehensive review of the scheme, including detailed traffic monitoring.
Some parking spaces have already been restored on Salmon Parade, and a full report on the review is set to be presented to the council’s executive committee in Taunton on Wednesday, June 3.
The report outlines four potential options:
- Retain the existing one-way system with additional parking (locations and capacity not specified).
- Reverse traffic direction on Salmon Parade to southbound only while keeping East Quay unchanged; this could improve traffic on the A38 Broadway and Monmouth Street but may increase town centre congestion and remove a cycle link.
- Restore two-way traffic on both East Quay and Salmon Parade; while it offers the best traffic flow, it clashes with the scheme’s goals by increasing vehicle dominance and potentially endangering pedestrians and cyclists.
- Implement one-way traffic southbound on both East Quay and Salmon Parade; this performs poorly in traffic modelling and offers no meaningful benefit.
Mike O’Dowd-Jones, the council’s service director for infrastructure and transport, noted that these options could be implemented within the existing budget, avoiding additional costs to taxpayers. However, he cautioned that none would significantly reduce congestion in the town centre.
O’Dowd-Jones explained, “Our journey time monitoring analysis concludes that the current Celebration Mile scheme is not causing acute traffic congestion in Bridgwater. While there have been instances of delays, these are temporary and usually linked to isolated network issues.”
He added that on the often-concerned A38 Broadway route, the longest delay recorded was 12 minutes, with most top delays ranging between seven and 12 minutes over five months.
“No option provides a significant reduction in overall traffic delay across Bridgwater’s network,” he said.
The Bridgwater town deal board will review these options on Monday, June 1, and make a recommendation to the council’s executive committee ahead of its meeting on June 3 in Taunton.