Council accepts junction revamp failed - but blames driver behaviour for the problem
SLOW-COACH drivers have been blamed - at least partly - for the failure of a junction upgrade in a Rotherham suburb to increase traffic flow.
Rotherham Council controversially sanctioned the removal of Greasbrough town hall to change the junction layout at Coach Road and Main Street, to get traffic flowing more freely.
But, nine years on, Rotherham MP Sarah Champion wrote to the council to raise concerns about congestion - and now the authority has responded.
They accept the upgrade has not worked.
The council’s strategic director, Andrew Bramidge, offers two explanations.
Firstly, he suggests that “it appears that there has been a significant increase in demand for some movements, including a significant increase on outflow from the junction towards the north, which could explain the apparent underperformance of the scheme”.
That, in short, means when improvements are made to a road, more drivers factor that into their route, with the increased traffic cancelling the impact of improvements.
But he also goes on to suggest driver behaviour may also play a role - with motorists too slow to set off when the lights turn green.
Mr Bramidge states numbers of vehicles crossing the stop lines at traffic lights are lower than expected, using industry calculations, right across South Yorkshire.
“The research showed that some drivers are, relative to industry standard forecasting, slow to respond to a green signal and the queue starting to move and/or prefer to leave a larger gap to the vehicle in front,” his letter states.
“This has led to green time effectively being ‘wasted’ and the junctions not operating as expected.”
That has led to traffic flow through the junction being 18 per cent down on expectations.
He clarified there was no specific data for the Greasbrough junction but said “given the consistency of findings across South Yorkshire and the observed issues, we would consider it likely this is a factor in the underperformance of the junction”.
He ruled out the prospect of further work, stating “both of these factors would likely undermine the potential benefit of any further work at this junction and reduce the possibility that there is any cost-effective capacity improve at this location.
Ms Champion said the response was “deeply disappointing” and said: “This is simply not good enough and it is something I will keep pushing”.