Unusually for a town of Chelmsford's size there is just one Railway Station. Chelmsford railway station is virtually in the centre of the town and around 10,000 commuters travel to London daily by rail making Chelmsford the busiest through railway station in England, (the busiest overall being Clapham Junction). A second station has been proposed for many years on the north eastern fringes of the town at Springfield, in order to serve the expanding housing developments there but nothing has ever come to fruition.

The A12 road from London, originally built by the Romans to connect London and Colchester, used to pass through the town, but is now diverted around the east. The £34.8m nine-mile (14 km) bypass opened in November 1986. The A414 is the main east-west route through the Borough, and the A130 and A131 run approximately north-south.

A new bus terminal in Duke Street opened in March 2007 which replaced an ageing 1930s Bus station. It incorporates shops and apartments and has a covered roof for passengers. This is mainly used by the First Essex Bus Company which has many routes around the town and beyond including the X30 Southend to Stansted Airport Flyer.

Chelmsford is around 25 minutes' drive from London Stansted Airport (via A130/A120), and London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London City, Luton and Southend airports are all within reach.

The Army and Navy Roundabout

The Army & Navy roundabout is notorious for its traffic hold-ups, even though the north-south road at this point is no longer part of the A12. Prior to 1986, when the Chelmsford bypass was opened, the traffic chaos here was legendary. Things have little improved since. Traffic lights were tried to improve matters in the early 2000s: that scheme was abandoned after a short while. The recently built bus lane on the A1114 Great Baddow Bypass and priority to traffic using it has meant traffic queues approaching the roundabout can now be over a mile long, during peak periods.

The junction is unusual for its flyover, where traffic goes one way into town (westerly) until 2.30 pm each day and one way (easterly) out of town after 2.30 pm. A two-way flyover has been mooted ever since the original was built in 1978: it is very unlikely to happen - the local council has stated that the cost would be prohibitive.

The roundabout is still called "The Army and Navy", even though the public house from which the junction got its name has been demolished.

Park and Ride

Chelmsford has a Park & Ride service that is based at nearby Sandon, just off the A12 at Junction 18. It runs from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday with five bus stops around the town (one near High Chelmer for shopping) and charges £2.00 per adult and free for OAP's or people under the age of 16. It currently has a capacity of 1,200 cars. Opened in March 2006 it has proved highly successful and is widely used.

Proposed Busway

Essex County Council Highways & Transportation Department have considered the construction of a Bus Rapid Transit System to be built serving the Beaulieu Park/Springfield Area due to the increasing demand for Rapid Transit Plans in Ipswich, Colchester and Southend.

Licenced Taxis

Chelmsford has over 110 local authority licensed Hackney Carriage Taxis that mainly ply for hire at Chelmsford railway station taxi rank. There are other ranks within the town such as Market Road and Baddow Road. However The Baddow Road rank mainly operates at night for visitors to the Pubs and Clubs within that area and the Market Road rank is only used during the daytime. Licensed Hackney Carriages in the Borough of Chelmsford are easily identifiable as they are predominately 'black' in colour, have white Local Authority Licence plates on the front/rear and illuminated green 'for hire' signs inside the front windscreen and illuminated rooflights. Chelmsford Hackney Carriage Taxis can be flagged down by members of the public anywhere within the Borough.

Licenced Private Hire Taxis in Chelmsford are identifiable by their yellow local authority licence plates on the front/rear of the vehicles and lack of a illuminated rooflight. These vehicles are not permitted to ply for hire and must be pre-booked by telephone. They can be of any colour. All Licensed Taxis of either type in Chelmsford will have a large rectangular council sticker with its licence number on the front doors.

 

Dieser Artikel basiert auf dem Artikel Chelmsford aus der freien Enzyklopädie Wiklpedia und steht unter der GNU-Lizenz für freie Dokumentation. In der Wikipedia ist eine Liste der Autoren verfügbar.