Highway engineers are anticipating teething problems when radical changes to Kendal's traffic flows go "live" in nine days time and are urging motorists to be patient.

Rob Lawley, senior consultant with Capitadbs, which is contracted by Cumbria County Council to maintain highways in South Lakeland, said that when the current system was introduced as an experiment in 1968 "quite a few adjustments were needed to get it to work properly."

"We are trying to envisage as many problems as possible and build in safeguards," said Mr Lawley.

"We are confident that the system will prove successful and drivers and users will see more benefit than the existing system.

"It's being introduced in an experimental state and the county council will have to make a decision on whether to make it permanent, amend it or remove it and that will depend on how it operates."

Phase one of the five-year traffic plan to ease the town's congestion problems - which comes into operation on Sunday, April 28 - will see vehicles travelling down Lowther Street, two-way flows on Sandes Avenue, New Road and Blackhall Road (between New Road and Stramongate) and the introduction of pedestrian crossings with traffic signals at key road junctions.

It is expected to cost in the region of £430,000 including supervision and consultancy costs.

The overall cost of the scheme is £5 million.

Mr Lawley said that if a decision to make phase one permanent is made then areas of the carriageway will be re-surfaced with special surfacing materials at approaches to signals, short cycle lanes would be created and junction improvements - involving a roundabout outside the County Hotel - would be made at Ann Street/Longpool so that a section of Station Road can become two-way.

Phase two of the scheme would see the introduction of other measures to encourage a modal shift to get people out of the cars and using public transport instead.

Bus routes around town would be improved and it is still hoped that a park and ride facility will be provided off the A591.

Negotiations over two possible sites are continuing but Mr Lawley would not reveal where they are situated.

"We have a couple of sites under consideration.

We are still trying to get them to a stage where they are acceptable," said Mr Lawley.

Phase three would involve the pedestrianisation of Stricklandgate from All-hallows Lane to Library Road and this is scheduled to happen by the year 2006.

It is four years since the Kendal Traffic Steering Group - made up of county, district and town councillors plus representatives of community organisations - gave broad approval for the plans to radically alter the town's traffic flows to be put out to public consultation.

More than 20,000 leaflets were distributed to houses in Kendal, Milnthorpe,Brigsteer, Burneside and other areas and a further 2,000 were left in shops and libraries but only 813 people res-ponded.

In December 2000, Cumbria County Council's South Lakeland Area committee agreed to go ahead with the package of measures aimed at reducing town centre traffic by 20 per cent.

But seven months later the traffic re-think was in tatters as major elements of the controversial scheme looked in jeopardy and threatened the future of the whole project.

These included Stagecoach wanting to send buses the "wrong way" down Stricklandgate, fears of money not being available to introduce decriminalised parking enforcement and the collapse of plans to create park and ride at the Kendal Fell Quarry.

Work due to start in the autumn of 2001 was delayed because of these problems until earlier this year with work on phase one eventually getting started in March.