New Infrastructure Minister Tim Baker has defended changes to the road layout on a main commuter route - insisting things would have been worse if they had done nothing.

Mr Baker was quizzed in the House of Keys about the new bus/cycle lane on Glencrutchery Road and changes at Governor’s Bridge which were introduced without warning last week.Motorists have been caught up in queues backing up to beyond Corkill’s garage in Onchan.Mr Baker said the changes were designed to mitigate the effects of making Douglas Promenade one-way northbound by prioritising southbound traffic from Onchan along Glencrutchery Road.All changes were reviewed by experienced highway designers and traffic engineers, he said.He said more than six million vehicles use the promenade annually and removing three million of them could not be done without increasing traffic elsewhere in Douglas.Mr Baker said the DoI would have criticised if it had done nothing. He said: ‘If we had not acted then I would strongly suggest – I can’t prove it – that we would have a far worse traffic situation in Douglas.‘While we’ve not necessarily fine-tuned the solution yet we are in a far better position than if the department had not acted.’Douglas East MHK Chris Robertshaw congratulated the DoI on ‘closing Douglas’. ‘I congratulate the department for making a complete mess of the whole thing,’ he said.Mr Baker said he ‘completely refuted’ this ‘ridiculous statement’ and accused Mr Robertshaw of making a ‘cheap shot’.Lawrie Hooper (Ramsey) said simply painting a cycle lane is not going to do anything to encourage more people to cycle and use public transport but would just result in more congestion trying to squeeze the same number of cars into a smaller space.Rob Callister (Onchan) said the changes had appeared overnight and Kate Costain (Douglas South) asked what advanced warning had been given to the public.Mr Baker said plans for a one-way system on the Promenade had been made ‘abundantly clear’ but accepted details of the changes at Governor’s Bridge and St Ninian’s had not been spelled out. He said they were ‘not the sort of thing I would expect to consult upon.'Education Minister Dr Alex Allinson asked what further changes may be made. Mr Baker said a stop box for cyclists would be created at St Ninian’s crossroads.