Sheffield traffic: Builders gear up for £21m city centre road changes as two-year Fargate revamp ends
A builders’ yard is being set up in Sheffield city centre ahead of £21m works to improve public spaces and walking and cycling routes.
Prefab buildings were delivered to the compound next to Pound’s Park on Wellington Street on Friday, January 31.
The project will see huge changes on Charles, Pinstone and Surrey streets and Arundel Gate.
It comes as work on Fargate, lasting almost two years, is set to end within weeks.
The aim is to provide more space for people, allow businesses to use more outdoor space and improve walking, cycling and wheeling routes (using wheelchairs, pushchairs and mobility scooters).
It will include new green streets with “high-quality planting and landscaping” and better drainage to slow the flow of water and reduce the risk of flooding.
Charles Street will be pedestrianised to Union Street and the upper part of Pinstone Street outside the new Radisson Blu hotel will be landscaped and have new trees.
Surrey Street will be pedestrianised from its junction with Norfolk Street and a bike lane installed.
On Arundel Gate, a new roundabout outside the Novotel Hotel will make it easier for drivers to avoid the bus gate and turn around. The restriction is still catching about 80 drivers-a-day almost two years since it was installed. It caught 2,578 people in October, earning Sheffield City Council £72,325 for the month.
In the last year, 40,017 motorists have been fined, raising £1,181,380, making it the most valuable bus gate in the city by far, a Freedom of Information request shows.
The city council will also create a two-way cycle route along the south side of Arundel Gate, segregated by landscaping, and a cycle crossing to link to Charles Street.