Spital Hill new traffic scheme

The proposed traffic scheme at Spital Hill is to be considered at a public, individual Cabinet Member Decision Session next week, on Tuesday 17 November 2015 at 1pm, in the Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield, S1 2HH.

If you wish to speak at the session you will need to register by contacting Simon Hughes in Democratic Services (simon.hughes@sheffield.gov.uk or phone 0114 273 4014) no later than 10.00 am on the last working day before the meeting.

Full report at http://sheffielddemocracy.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=368&MId=5964& Ver=4

SPITAL HILL SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION

On Spital Hill, buses and other road users are frequently delayed. In an outbound direction, buses at the bus stop in the main carriageway prevent other traffic from continuing ahead. In an inbound direction, the bus lane approaching Savile Street is not functioning as intended and is leading to lane-changing, vehicular conflict and imbalanced queuing.

Schemes to address these issues have been developed and were consulted upon in July-August 2015. There were no objections and no issues remain outstanding. The schemes are therefore recommended for approval.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LOCAL PEOPLE?

Spital Hill / Hallcarr Street

The outbound bus on Spital Hill has to stop in the main carriageway due to on-street parking nearby necessitating a bus build-out. When buses are at the stop, traffic cannot pass by and so queues frequently develop behind the buses. Furthermore, buses coming the opposite direction struggle to pass, due to the narrow road width between the parking lay-bys.

To address this it is proposed to relocate the bus stop to a new position opposite Hallcarr Street. Four parking spaces would be removed but two replacement spaces would be installed where the existing bus stop is. This proposal will allow 2 outbound buses to pull in without obstructing other traffic.

Spital Hill/Savile Street

There is currently a relatively short section of bus lane (about 30 metres) operating in the nearside lane approach to Savile Street. Below the Tesco junction, this bus lane is often contravened by motorists but is also ineffective because most of the traffic coming down the hill goes straight ahead to the Wicker or A61 South, and therefore needs to cut across to the nearside lane.

To resolve this, it is proposed to remove the short section of bus lane referred to. This will allow the majority of traffic to be in the appropriate lane earlier on and will afford more stacking space.

Buses meanwhile will utilise the lesser used offside lane, which will be right-turn only (except for buses and other authorised users who will continue across Savile Street towards the Wicker).

In the Wicker the central reserve island will be narrowed slightly in order to provide an additional lane, thereby allowing buses easier access to the Wicker.

Consultation

Consultation with affected residents took place in July-August 2015. Local Members, the emergency services, Veolia and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive were also consulted.

Two comments were received from cyclists, who raised concerns that the Spital Hill / Savile Street scheme may cause additional problems for them and other cyclists.

In view of this the scheme was amended to incorporate a new shared use facility between the Tesco junction and Savile Street. This provides a safe alternative for those cyclists who wish to access the advanced stop line or turn left along Savile Street. It is likely that confident cyclists will continue to use the main carriageway, taking advantage of the gap between two better-organised queues.

A response was also received from Cycle Sheffield, on 30 September 2015. The response stated that

“Commenting on the specifics of this design, which leaves the road fundamentally unsafe for cyclists, might be seen to condone it, so we will refrain. The minor changes represent no significant improvement for cyclists (existing or potential).”