Ring road relief at last

Ring road relief at last


The road ahead: Final checks before opening on Monday


Richard Marsden
MOTORISTS in Sheffield can breathe a sigh relief after highways bosses announced the completion of two long-awaited improvements.

The £65 million section of inner ring road around the north of Sheffield city centre opens on Monday.

And reconstruction of the Sheffield Parkway between Prince of Wales Road and Handsworth is set to finish by the end of the month.

The new inner ring road replaces congested one-way streets between Park Square and West Bar, and has been three years in the making.

Sheffield Council leader Coun Jan Wilson said completion of the inner ring road was great news for Sheffield.

She said: "Not only will it relieve pressure from city centre streets, allowing through traffic to get where it needs to more easily, but it also means the area has already attracted development, creating new jobs and investment as part of Sheffield's regeneration."

Coun Bryan Lodge, the council's cabinet member for transport, added: "It has been a complex task and we appreciate the patience of the travelling public."

Cones will be removed from the main route in the early hours of Monday morning - although minor environmental work to verges and traffic islands will continue until the end of the year, along with completion of junctions with minor roads.

Traffic restrictions are set to come into force on existing roads, including bus gates on the Wicker or Bridge Street.

Removal of through traffic from the Riverside and Wicker means Sheffield Council hopes they can be developed as extensions of the city centre. Already £200 million of investment has been made in the areas, which is expected to rise to £700 million.

Although the new route is longer and has double the number of traffic lights than the roads it replaces, council bosses believe it will reduce journey times because of increased capacity, sequenced traffic lights and the diversion of most buses.

Work on Sheffield Parkway commenced earlier this year, following a similar project to rebuild Mosborough Parkway.
Reconstruction of both roads, costing £7.2 million, was necessary because steel slag used beneath the tarmac in the 1990s had swollen, damaging the surface.