Aston Bypass traffic lights turned off after causing "horrendous" traffic problems

TRAFFIC lights added as part of a £1.2 million roads project near the Gulliver’s Valley theme park site were switched off after two days.
By Gareth Dennison
Published 21st Sep 2017, 10:42 BST
Updated 22nd Sep 2017, 11:47 BST
Parish councillor Paul Martin (left) with local residents Adrian Thrower (centre) and Alan Rowles at the problem traffic lights at the roundabout on the A57. 171567-2Parish councillor Paul Martin (left) with local residents Adrian Thrower (centre) and Alan Rowles at the problem traffic lights at the roundabout on the A57. 171567-2
Parish councillor Paul Martin (left) with local residents Adrian Thrower (centre) and Alan Rowles at the problem traffic lights at the roundabout on the A57. 171567-2

The junction of the A618 and A57 between Wales and Aston was identified as needing improvements to deal with extra vehicles.

But Rotherham Borough Council admitted the lights had not performed as expected when they were turned on.

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Cllr Paul Martin, of Wales Parish Council, said: “The planning for Gulliver’s was subject to road improvements. 

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“We have supported the project as it will bring jobs to the area but the traffic is something which needs addressing.

“The borough council must have spent tens of thousands of pounds putting in the new layout and traffic lights already. 

“But when they switched on the lights, it caused all the traffic to back up and created problems. 

“They were only operational for a couple of days. 

“It caused horrendous traffic problems.

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“The concern is that what they have done seems to have failed. There’s a bit of concern about what is going to happen.”

The entrance of the children’s theme park - set to bring more than 250 jobs - was moved to the A618 Mansfield Road after being at the Elmwood Farm pub roundabout in early plans.

The borough council allocated £384,000 towards road improvements, with the rest coming from Sheffield City Region.

Cllr Martin said: “I still firmly believe the entrance for Gulliver’s could potentially cause real traffic problems and road safety issues around Wales village.

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“The second issue is that the vast amount of money spent to try and alleviate these problems appears to be totally useless.

“It appears that no effective traffic-modelling was done to come up with this scheme to mitigate the possible problems.”

Paul Woodcock, RMBC’s assistant director for planning, regeneration and transport, said: “The new traffic lights at the junction of the A618 with the A57 did not perform as expected. 

“Having monitored the junction for two days, the signals on the roundabout were turned off to allow a full review of the situation to be undertaken and this is ongoing.

“The signals at the T-junction will remain operational.”

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