RESIDENTS are unconvinced by some aspects of Olympic travel plans which will see a major shake-up of traffic movements around Weymouth.

A Dorset County Council exhibition giving residents the chance to see designs and ask questions had a more than rough ride on its first outing.

Despite assurances from engineers and their suggestion to ‘look at the bigger picture,’ many people attending an event in the Park District felt the works were being implemented to the detriment of communities.

Funding worth £18million is available to provide Weymouth with a modern transport network because of the 2012 Olympics.

Council chiefs say it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve public transport and ease congestion.

The package is designed to help traffic flow smoother, with traffic lights replacing roundabouts, remodelled junctions and a switch in some one-way systems.

There will be new pedestrian crossings and travelling by bus will be easier with real-time passenger information and refurbished bus stops.

Work is due to start early next year subject to Department for Transport approval. Works will cause major disruption with the closure of Boot Hill next autumn and one-way in King Street for seven months in 2011. Other road schemes to complement the transport package are planned, including a redesigned Asda car park and improvements to the Lanehouse corridor and the Portland Road junction with Wyke Road.

While welcoming Government money to fund improvements, visitors to the exhibition had their doubts about the plans on the table.

There was scepticism about moves to replace the main town roundabouts with lights and grave concerns about changes to traffic flows around King Street, particularly preventing vehicles turning left into Queen Street and reversing the flow of traffic in Crescent Street.

Dorset County Council Strategic Projects Manager Matthew Piles said: “The package is not just about improving traffic flow – it’s about air quality, public transport and impact on the townscape. People have to look at the bigger picture.

“There will be an impact on residents. People may not agree with it but they fully understand what we’re trying to do.”

n The exhibition will be at Hope Church in Trinity Street today from 1.30pm to 7.30pm and at Weymouth Library tomorrow from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

GENNY Burchill, of Ranelagh Road, who ran King Street post office with husband Dave for 20 years, said there had been little consultation and that residents had been presented with a ‘fait accompli’.

She said: “I don’t think Weymouth people have had enough input into this scheme. These plans may look good on paper but have any of these engineers actually spent time here, especially in the summer?

“It appears the council is pushing through what they think is a good scheme on a tight timescale while ignoring local problems.”

The chairman of the Weymouth Hotel and Guesthouse Leaseholders’ Association Dave Price said: “There’s too many traffic lights for my liking.

“The council talks about putting in intelligent traffic light systems so start with putting them at Littlemoor Road junction which is the cause of hold-ups between Weymouth and Dorchester.”

Waterside Weymouth Community Forum chairman Ken Whatley said he was disappointed because engineers had not provided any figures to back up proposals.

He said journeys for Park District residents would be made longer and urged people with concerns to write to the county council ‘urgently’.

Weymouth taxi driver Jim Halls said: “I am to be convinced by this but I’m keeping an open mind.

“Some aspects of the plans do worry me such as banning traffic coming down Boot Hill from turning left into Chickerell Road.”

Joe Ward, of Hardwick Street, said he was concerned about traffic being diverted down Crescent Street and the effect it would have on the corner by the doctor’s surgery which is difficult to cross.

Bill McCarthy who runs the Edenhurst guesthouse on the Esplanade said his guests who would normally park in Crescent Street would face a journey of two to three miles via Weymouth Way under the new system because of the one-way order.