Spital Hill is to close for traffic flowing into the city centre from 4th September 2005 for twelve months.
The closure is due to the construction of a new retaining wall and road junction on Spital Hill. Traffic flowing into the city centre will now have to divert onto Gower Street, Sutherland Street, Attercliffe Road, Savile Street and then onto the Wicker.
However, traffic will still flow one-way from the city centre and will be open to pedestrians.
Lee Tinkle, Project Manager at Birse, contractors for the project said: “The closure and diversion is a recent change to plans due to technical reasons. We don’t expect an increase in traffic or congestion due to the diversion.”
The changes are due to the development of the ring road which will run past the bottom of Spital Hill towards Brunswick Road joining another link road that will run across the Wicker from the Parkway. The new trunk road will then run past the Riverside Exchange development and towards Penistone Road.
A spokesperson for Birse said: “The purpose of the new link road is to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and reduce traffic flow into the city centre”.
However, locals from Spital Hill see the developments as good news if you’re a motorist but not so good if you’re a resident or pedestrian. They complained that the new road will be unpleasant as it will create more traffic and congestion. For pedestrians the new link road may also act as a barrier and cut off Burngreave from the city centre. Ahmed Gurnah, of the Bungreave Community Learning Campaign, based at Forum House said:
“Although Burngreave is less than a mile from the city centre it already feels isolated and this scheme may increase that feeling.”
by Naheem Hanif