Wondered what anyone else thought of driving around Sheff as compared to other City Centres. This morning was in Leeds City Centre and what a horrible place to drive through, ring road is confusing and no obvious way out of the City centre. Terrible signposting as well......Sheffield MUCH better.

Last year I got stuck in Oxford City centre for over an hour as the way out of Oxford (any way out) was simply not signposted at all.....it was the most horrific City for signposting I have driven in to date.

Last weekend was driving across London, and thought I would try going right through the City centre instead of round the M25 ( I was in a very optimistic mood) So from the end of the A1 I approached the general mass that is London, and right through heading in a direction for Bromley. I was thinking it would be a TOTAL nightmare, but it as actually more pleasant than I expected. At least it was signposted properly, and even the MANIAC London taxi drivers and buses did not get me too annoyed (eveyone cuts you up in london all the time, even to save 1" of space....its funny). DIdnt like the fact 3 lane roads suddenly expanded into 8 with no warning, and then shrink to 2 without warning either, but thats only to be expected in a City like that I guess.....

So Sheffield I vote, not a bad City Centre at all to drive around, despite the one way systems, etc, its fairly easy to negotiate I reckon. What does anyone think here?

The best city to drive around is Newcastle. The roads are well defined, never too busy and you can get around the city really easily.

I was going to say that coming into Sheffield on the A57 is a terrible stretch of road for bumps and potholes, but the new ring road should sort that.

about the same as Brum.

PS - road signs in Sheffield are awful, we just don't notice because we know our way around.

Some people came over from Huddersfield a few weeks ago and spent ages driving around looking for a sign towards the university.

I drove back home taking note of the signs and decided that it's pretty dire.

Originally posted by goldenfleece
Wondered what anyone else thought of driving around Sheff as compared to other City Centres. This morning was in Leeds City Centre and what a horrible place to drive through, ring road is confusing and no obvious way out of the City centre. Terrible signposting as well......Sheffield MUCH better.

Last year I got stuck in Oxford City centre for over an hour as the way out of Oxford (any way out) was simply not signposted at all.....it was the most horrific City for signposting I have driven in to date.

Last weekend was driving across London, and thought I would try going right through the City centre instead of round the M25 ( I was in a very optimistic mood) So from the end of the A1 I approached the general mass that is London, and right through heading in a direction for Bromley. I was thinking it would be a TOTAL nightmare, but it as actually more pleasant than I expected. At least it was signposted properly, and even the MANIAC London taxi drivers and buses did not get me too annoyed (eveyone cuts you up in london all the time, even to save 1" of space....its funny). DIdnt like the fact 3 lane roads suddenly expanded into 8 with no warning, and then shrink to 2 without warning either, but thats only to be expected in a City like that I guess.....

So Sheffield I vote, not a bad City Centre at all to drive around, despite the one way systems, etc, its fairly easy to negotiate I reckon. What does anyone think here? I hope you stopped and paid your congestion Charges otherwise your going to get a large fine, unless you were on a bike.:thumbsup:

Originally posted by alchresearch
The best city to drive around is Newcastle. The roads are well defined, never too busy and you can get around the city really easily.

I was going to say that coming into Sheffield on the A57 is a terrible stretch of road for bumps and potholes, but the new ring road should sort that.

I agree...even North Eastern towns (M'boro) have excellent road systems and signed.

I know Leeds very well too and I would say Sheffield is WORSE than Leeds...I shop in Chesterfield or Crystal Peaks because I get anxious driving around Sheffield!

:o

Originally posted by Bikertec
I hope you stopped and paid your congestion Charges otherwise your going to get a large fine, unless you were on a bike.:thumbsup:

well it doesnt cost the earth you know........quite reasonable fee to see London, albeit did not see that much of it aside from back sides of buses and taxis........

Derby's road system is a nightmare. Even though I used to work there, and knew my way around, it always taxed the brain to think about getting from A to B.

Nottingham used to be o.k., but now the tram is operating, the road systems have been changed, and I was completely lost on the new road system the other weekend!

My least favorite has to be Leicester as it's the only city I've ever driven in which actually had me at a heightened state of nervousness. Try to follow the A6 through the city if you dare!! I suppose any city is okay as long as you live there and drive through it frequently but I have heard visitors grumble about Sheffield and believe it or not the grumbles are intensifying.

i have driven in manchester(got lost because signs were covered by other signs or overgrown trees!) got lost in birmingham due to road works and diversions, done not bad in liverpool and got very lost in glasgow! i come from glasgow and only passed my test in june, went home for a few days and got very lost due to it being changed into all one way systems and bus lanes!!! i think its pretty awful most cities though

We had the misfortune to have to drive on Sheffields roads quite recently. I have driven London, Palma/ Majorca, Hannover,Antwerp and Rotterdam,Manchester and Liverpool city centre traffic. I think Sheffield is the worst. We had three days of driving the Ecclesall Road at rush hour, both morning and evening. It's dreadful traffic.

I would put Sheff on a par with Madrid, where I haven't driven, but seen the traffic 'first hand' on several occasions.

Oh I have driven recently in Leeds and Bratfurt . Question: how many 't's' are there in Bradford ?

Sheffield city centre is very small but takes ages to get across.
I agree with you about Leeds. I go up there to the cricket quite a lot and i always, always go around in circles trying to find the M1 !
Its a nightmare.

Sheffield has some one way systems that defy explanation :loopy:

The worst one yet is from Debenhams driving from hanover way in the direction of Arundel Gate.
You are forced to turn left into Pinstone St and then left again and go around Charles St. and back the way you came to eventually turn left in the direction you were originally going!!

It takes 5 - 10 minutes on average and i once sat there for 20 minutes. :mad:

i presume it is to stop pedestrian injuries as everyone outside MacDonalds on the Moor cross even in heavy trafic, why oh why doesn't the council address the main issue? They closed the underpass some years ago and forced an large concentration of pedstrians across a smal road and made the motorist pay the price.

This appears to be the same with many ohter trafic systems in Sheffield. If they are serious about the regeneration of the city centre then they need to be more car freindly rather than charging extortionate parking charges and making if difficult to get anywhere in the centre.
Either that or make public transport run on time with new clean efficient rolling stock and keep it cheap! :rant:

in the 1990s my job meant that I had to cover the whole of mainland britain in some maintenance contracts and I got to know (and got lost in) many of our cities.

One example I used to regularly give was my impression of the opposites Sheffield and Manchester.
Where, Manchester has wonderful wide roads, but appaling and often misleading signage, which frequently sends you on a wild goose chase.
And Sheffield has pitiful narrow grindingly slow congested roads with superb signage.

Also Milton keynes! crikey that place is enough to send you round the twist. Where adresses could easily be 6 roundabouts horizontal then 4 roundabouts vertical.

The best roads anywhere were Edinburgh, where the surface is so smooth, and any defect you report to the hotline, gets a squad of navvies out within minutes for repairs.

Originally posted by Cyclone
road signs in Sheffield are awful, we just don't notice because we know our way around.


How true this is. There is a sign of Shirecliffe roundabout pointing to Parkwood College. That area is now a housing estate and has been for quite some time. Obviously sign updating is not a priority...

Its odd most of the old underpasses for Pedestrians are closed now. Comment above I had not thought about.

Originally posted by goldenfleece
Its odd most of the old underpasses for Pedestrians are closed now. Comment above I had not thought about.

It's part of the council's masterplan. They don't like underpassess.

Originally posted by ptigga
It's part of the council's masterplan. They don't like underpassess.

does anyone like pedestrian underpasses though? If anyone should be going underground, it should be the motorists ... I could never understand the concept why the cars should be on top, as opposed to the people. It's just :loopy:

Originally posted by ptigga
It's part of the council's masterplan. They don't like underpassess.
Perhaps muggers hadn't been invented when Le Corbusier had his utopian ideas for town planning :rolleyes:


Back on thread:

Sheffield: nightmare. Impossible one (random) way systems. Poor signage. I know people who won't drive here :rant:

Liverpool: Noticable improvement since 'City of Culture' thing awarded. Previously signs would just peter out..... :confused:

Glasgow: Gridded one way sysem, so if you can't turn right at these lights, you can at the next :thumbsup:

Birmingham: All roundabouts should have underpasses (Maths tells you so) Well done B'ham! :thumbsup:

Peterborough: Great!!! Parkways straight to the carparks in town. Well signposted :clap:

Nottingham: Err, easier when it's busy, so you can read your AtoZ whilst in the traffic queues. If you're in the wrong lane in moving traffic, you're stuffed :(

Manchester: Why would anybody want to go there??? :confused:

Cambridge: Hell. Don't take a car :(

York: Why does the ringroad look like the city walls on some maps? Damn confusing :loopy: The traffic flows better when the traffic lights are off :suspect:

Originally posted by Blacksheep
The worst one yet is from Debenhams driving from hanover way in the direction of Arundel Gate.
You are forced to turn left into Pinstone St and then left again and go around Charles St. and back the way you came to eventually turn left in the direction you were originally going!!


So why drive that way when you can travel one roundabout further and turn right onto Eyre Street, bringing you out at the same place? Quicker, less stressful and much more sensible!

Originally posted by Blacksheep
I agree with you about Leeds. I go up there to the cricket quite a lot and i always, always go around in circles trying to find the M1 !
Its a nightmare.



Ahhhh.... the circular route to the M1 i know it well. Basically follow signs to the M1, drive through town, round town, under town, back past town (at this point look out the passenger window, that was the road you wanted to be on) then aim for the middle and you'll hit the M1.

Or... Aim for the Elland Road roundabout and turn left. Soooooooooo much quicker and easier. :thumbsup:

-PK-

This reminds me of the time when I was up in Sheff. last at easter - Craig took a wrong turn, and instead of going to the

Travel Interchange, he went down the street that lead to Hallamshire Hospital - we then spun around (outside a huge Barclays Bank), and whizzed over to the interchange, with 2 minutes to spare!

Alex

Originally posted by Strix

York: Why does the ringroad look like the city walls on some maps? Damn confusing :loopy: The traffic flows better when the traffic lights are off :suspect:


The inner ring road runs alongside some of the walls, particularly around Nunnery Lane, Queen Street, Station Road and partly around Foss Islands Road.

I agree that traffic runs much better when the lights aren't working (but that would apply to any city IMO). The junction of Bootham and Gillygate is notorious for queues and all because of poorly sequenced lights.

I would love the whole country to have a National No Traffic Lights day (in areas where it would be practical and safe to do so, ofcause).

Finally, whilst travelling in York itself isn't much fun, it's worth noting that getting to York from Sheffield has never been easier and quicker. Via the M1, A64 you can be there in around 75 minutes - not bad for a 60 mile journey (although there are a couple of junctions on the M1/A1 and M1/A64 where one day there'll be an almight pile up - I can see it coming and am just waiting for the fog).

Originally posted by Ousetunes
Finally, whilst travelling in York itself isn't much fun, it's worth noting that getting to York from Sheffield has never been easier and quicker.
Let the train take the strain :D