Exclusive:Drivers get ready to go nowhere fast in long queue of roadworks in Sheffield
Sheffield’s reputation as a City on the Move is under threat from roadworks
Sheffield used to be known as a City on the Move but these days motorists are more likely to be stopped - by roadworks.
The famous promotional film made by the city council in 1971 enjoyed a burst of publicity at the beginning of The Full Monty movie in 1997.
The slogan has since fallen out of use as traffic gets slower and slower - with many of the hold-ups caused by roadworks.
Some is the price of progress, some is unexpected, but all are ultimately the responsibility of the city council which has a duty to ‘co-ordinate all planned works carried out on the highway’ and ‘minimise inconvenience and disruption to the travelling public’.
Projects in its inbox, and grinding motorists’ gearboxes, include new bike lanes on Pinstone and Surrey streets, and Arundel Gate, in Sheffield city centre.
They are part of the authority’s Connecting Sheffield project which is also building a two-mile bike lane from the city centre to the Arena, through Attercliffe.
Roadworks are underway at the start of the route, on Furnival Road by Derek Dooley Way, and in the centre of Attercliffe, where Attercliffe Road is temporarily one-way.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city, the A57 near Rivelin Dams is closed for six weeks until June 2, so the council’s private sector PFI contractor, Amey, can repair a landslip.
Motorists have been told to make a 24-mile diversion via the city centre, Hathersage and Bamford.
The city council says there will be 395 road closures over the next year-and-a-half, with dozens of jobs planned over the next two weeks alone, including by Yorkshire Water, Cityfibre, Northern Powergrid, developers building flats and the authority itself.
Unexpected events can also close roads and cause traffic chaos, such as the building collapse on London Road at the weekend, a sinkhole which closed Dore Road for a week, and water bursts which affected St Mary’s Road last week, Cumberland Street near The Moor in October, and Woodseats Road in June last year - among many others.
Then there’s Amey fixing potholes. Some are very quick, others take longer and require traffic management.
Occasionally, mistakes aRE made.
In September Yorkshire Water dug up more than 500 yards of Rodney Hill in Loxley days after Amey had resurfaced it. A Sheffield City Council spokesperson said Amey should have postponed their work until Yorkshire Water had finished. Processes were subsequently “revised.”
As well as all this, there are big projects in the pipeline, literally.
Sheffield is facing five years of roadworks after plans to build a seven mile energy pipeline through part of the city were approved in March.
The roadworks will take place after plans to lay pipes for a heating scheme for houses and business along a seven-mile route were granted planning permission by Sheffield Council.
The scheme will see pipes carry heat along a route from a site hear the Northern General Hospital, to Pitsmoor, Burngreave, Grimesthorpe, the Lower Don Valley, Tinsley and the new Waverley estate, near Sheffield Parkway.
It is an extension of a District Heating Network operated to the east of Sheffield operated by energy firm EoN, which is powered by a wood burning energy plant at Blackburn Meadows.
A £30m plan to remove Shalesmoor Roundabout fits into the ‘price of progress’ category - and not everyone approves.
Last month the city council hailed government funding for the project which will remodel the junction of Shalesmoor, Penistone and Netherthorpe roads.
The job will take up to two years and see the roundabout replaced by a junction, with ‘free running’ left terms, new bike crossings and the relocation of overhead power lines for trams - all while keeping one of the city’s busiest areas moving.
Star readers fear months of jams - and wonder whether it is even necessary.
Politicians say it is required to accommodate the thousands of residents set to move into new homes at Furnace Hill and Neepsend.
The city council is also keen to spend £10m improve the A61 Chesterfield Road through Heeley, Meersbrook and Woodseats to Meadowhead.
Upgrades include bus priority signalling and new shelters, widening the approach to Meadowhead roundabout, filling in the subway at Meadowhead and tackling congestion at St. James Retail Park.
The project has already run into opposition. Hundreds of people have signed a petition against extending the operating hours of a bus lane in Woodseats due to parking issues and disruption to their daily lives.
Ecclesall Road is another arterial route that could face disruption.
The authority has published plans to narrow Brocco Bank and Junction Road to one lane where they join Hunter’s Bar roundabout.
The restrictions are aimed at improving safety for cyclists at an accident blackspot and are part of a £1.425m scheme to make the A625 Ecclesall Road safer, improve air quality and encourage walking and cycling.
Banner Cross Neighbourhood Group has called for the plan to be scrapped saying it was ‘obvious’ it would create ‘huge congestion’.
After an outcry, the city council said it was “exploring whether alternative measures could achieve similar collision-reduction benefits within the available budget.”
We await developments.