The seemingly never ending saga of the redevelopment of Douglas Promenade has reached another milestone with the latest – and hoped for final – plans being put on public display at the Sea Terminal from today (Friday 4th September). As we have reported previously the latest plans will see a single track horse tramway constructed along the seaward side of the Promenade mostly on the area which is currently the pavement. The plans will be on display until Monday 28th September and the Department of Infrastructure are once again looking for comments from the public.
This scheme will see the horse tramway tracks moved from the centre of the Promenade – where it is considered they are not safe due to the amount of traffic now on the roads – and they will be moved on the section of Promenade between the War Memorial and Queen’s Gardens. A single track will be installed almost entirely where the pavement currently runs, adjacent to the road along Harris, Central and Queen’s Promenades. The tramway will still have to cross the width of the road when it approaches the Strathallan terminus and a special road surface is planned here to assist other road users.
Infrastructure Minsiter Phil Gawne MHK said: “I hope that repositioning the horse tram track, widening the walkway area and introducing controlled crossings will address the main concerns that people expressed in relation to the original planning application. The design team has assessed a range of options and our preferred scheme is the only one that ticks all the boxes in terms of the overall vision, objectives and safety guidelines for the redevelopment of Douglas Promenade.”
The Douglas Horse Tramway now has only nine days operation left for 2015 with the season due to end on Sunday 13th September. This time last year we were preparing for the closure of the tramway for at least a year but in the end 2015 has seen a full season of running. It remains to be seen whether 2016 will see full operations, limited operations or any operations at all!