This is how many roads in Sheffield have been resurfaced this year

Streets Ahead chiefs said their teams worked around the clock throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and took the decision to merely focus on areas in the city centre as traffic volumes were reduced.

By the time programmed work for 2020 came to an end yesterday, another 18 miles of road and 38 miles of pavements had been resurfaced this year.

This brings the grand total to 1,791 miles of pavement and 901 miles of roads completed since the contract began in 2012 – the equivalent of a return journey from Sheffield to Lille in France.

Darren Butt, account director at the Sheffield Council contractor said, Ahead, said: “We purposely chose streets in the city centre to focus on at the beginning of the year.

“By March, we knew that traffic volumes were going to be much reduced and we wanted to stay away from residential areas and the local hospitals, where many streets are too narrow to accommodate our workforce which makes social distancing challenging.”

Broad Street West and Pond Street were the first to benefit from the resumption of resurfacing work, followed by Hangingwater Lane, Bacon Lane and Bawtry Road.

Cabinet member for environment, street scene and climate change at Sheffield Council, Coun Mark Jones said: “2020 has been a really challenging year for us all and the impact on businesses across the city has been unprecedented.

He added: “It’s not been easy to navigate through the changing restrictions but as a result of careful planning and the ability to be flexible when needed, essential resurfacing works have continued, ensuring that our highway network remains fit for purpose and safe for all users.”

The council also shared comments from a resident pleased with new pavements on Waterthorpe Rise in Westfield.

They said: “Please extend our thanks to the Sheffield surfacing team for the great footpath job that they have completed on the Waterthorpe Farm estate.

"The staff were most helpful, polite, friendly and accommodating. They did what they could to make their task less disruptive.”