New road is key to solving gridlock

Some would view the task of getting Sheffield moving as a poisoned chalice, or even a battle doomed to failure.

But not Bryan Lodge.

Following the May elections, he has taken over responsibility for transport policy alongside his existing job as cabinet member for streetscene and green spaces.

It means he is in charge of a huge number of council services, from parks and leisure services to rubbish collections. And the most contentious of the lot – roads.

The Birley councillor is undaunted by the role.

He is confident that progress made in the coming months will ensure there are no repeats of the scenes of recent years, where the entire city centre has repeatedly become paralysed for hours at rush hour due to a single broken down vehicle.

He said: “It’s very difficult because there are a growing number of cars out there and limited roadspace. What we need to do is optimise the capacity of the network.

“The new section of inner relief road between Shalesmoor and the Wicker will make a difference, along with adding the extra lane at Granville Square, which is currently a bottleneck.”

Coun Lodge says the inner relief road is particularly important because it replaces the most congested section of the current route, around Corporation Street and Nursery Street.

Breakdowns on this stretch caused each of the recent occasions of gridlock - the last of which happened in December and led to streets clogged with jams until after 8pm.

Although the 50 million new route – the first major change to Sheffield’s road network for decades – features more sets of traffic lights than the route it replaces, highways officials say they are confident it will shorten journey times because all the signals are co-ordinated.

Wider junctions also allow more vehicles through every time lights change to green – and another bonus is that buses will mostly remain on the existing roads rather than use the new one, apart from at Shalesmoor.

This removes current bottlenecks such as Castlegate, where jams are caused by buses having to pull across three lanes of traffic to turn right on to Lady’s Bridge after leaving bus stops on the left-hand side of the road.

It also means bus services will be faster and more attractive because they will no longer get stuck in congestion.

Coun Lodge said: “We want to see what happens when the new road is open. However, it may be that we could also look again at some road closures and bus gates and see whether they are necessary.

But he added planned traffic restrictions for existing streets around the Wicker and Riverside, which are being bypassed by the new inner ring road, are going ahead.

Most controversial is a proposal to turn Bridge Street into a bus gate behind the magistrates’ court, which will see a road currently used by thousands of vehicles a day reduced to a handful of buses an hour.

It means city centre workers who currently enter the Riverside and Hartshead area from Park Square will be diverted around the inner ring road to West Bar – more than treble the distance.

Coun Lodge said: “The idea is that traffic can access the city centre – but do you really want vehicles driving through it to other destinations?

“We want to open up the city centre, cut the potential for accidents and reduce air quality problems.”

The council is hoping to stem the growing amount of traffic by providing alternatives to driving into the city.

Coun Lodge outlined the authority’s continuing work to develop park and ride sites with South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, which oversees public transport.

The latest will be near Sheffield City Airport, at Waverley, which is set to open before the end of the decade and is on the route of a planned rapid bus route between Sheffield and Rotherham.

He said the council is also considering asking Sheffield Arena operator Sheffield International Venues if it can use the venue’s car parks as a park and ride.

Coun Lodge added the authority is “still looking” at potential sites for a park and ride near Meadowhead to take traffic from the choked A61 through Woodseats and Heeley.

The search is proving difficult due to a lack of large sites close to main roads. The former Meadowhead School was discounted because the site is not big enough to make the park and ride viable.

Coun Lodge said developments such as the new section of inner ring road show the council is not anti-motorist.

But he believes the council’s battle against congestion can only be won in the long term if drivers can be persuaded to reduce their dependence on cars and use alternatives such as public transport and park and ride facilities for some of their journeys.

Otherwise, if traffic continues to grow, new road capacity will be used up and gridlock will return.