I am looking for some information on tidal traffc flow systems for a college assignment, to anyone else that is exactly wat is used along queens road (A61) outside Halfords. I am attempting to do a case study on this and approached the city council who are unsure when it was built and don't even have a picture of it.

Can anyone here point me in the direction of when it was built, if you think its a success and how well it works with buses. I would be greatful of a photo too if possible

Cheers

Possibly try the Highways Agency (or similar type of officialdom).

As an aside: how typical is that of Sheffield Council? It's been a part of the city's road network for bloody years, but as far as they're concerned it might as well have fallen out of the sky in the middle of last night!
:hihi:

That's what caused all the potholes then ... :lol:

Maybe that's their excuse for everything: "Don't blame us, it all just fell out of the sky...honest." :hihi:

Originally posted by Geordiecarl
I am attempting to do a case study on this and approached the city council who are unsure when it was built and don't even have a picture of it.


what exact photo are you after?

the road? the traffic lights? the intersection?

A photo of the overhead signing and the lanes below is all i need just to show people what im talking about!

Geordiecarl

I am stunned the council know nothing about Queen's Road. It seems to have been there a little while now. ;)

The traffic flow system there is similar to that used when you go into Brum off the A38. That has 8 lanes from the M6 into Brum wth variable directions on the middle four.

Here on Queen's Road, there are four lanes of traffic. The outermost lanes always go in the direction one would expect but the two middle lanes have a variable direction. At the moment, because traffic is flowing out of Sheffield there are 3 lanes south (out of town) and one lane north (into town). In the morning there's one lane south and 3 north.

This traffic flow system is also used when the Blades are playing at home so that all the traffic from Bramall Lane gets pushed out of Sheffield PDQ.

The idea is that more room for traffic is available when there is a predominant flow of traffic in one particular direction. The overhead signs indicate which lanes are open in the direction you are travleiing. In the 3 years I've lived here, I've not seen or heard of an accident relating to this traffic flow management system so in my book it just goes to show what can be achieved in a community when people are treated with a bit of intelligence and respect.

If you are interested in traffic flow systems generally, then you might want to also consider the rolling roadblocks being generated on the M1. If you travel down the M1 at certain times of the day, e.g 1700-1900 at least, you will find variable speed limits being enforced between the M6 and the M25 junctions. The traffic speed is taken down to 60 and then down to 40 miles per hour and held there for quite a few miles.

There are never any roadworks with these rolling roadblocks. They ease the congestion on the M25 and in London by slowing down a proportion of the traffic so that it arrives later. I think they are also applied going north on the M1 from London to Brum during the same time periods. I don't know if the same is being applied to other major routes into/out of London/Birmingham/Manchester/major conurbation of your choice.

I appreciate the congestion problems need to be solved, but I am not fond of this particular practice. Can't offer a better solution tho' bar the old boring and far too effective one of providing decent subsidised public transport to persuade people off the road and onto buses and trams.

But I suppose the days of Red Ken, the GLC and a 10p bus ride across London are long gone, the same way as a 1p fare on the tram. We all know it's far far better for governments to treat human beings as profit resource centres so private companies can fulfill their legal duty to maximise their profits.

I do a few gigs at The Earl which is the pub on the corner opposite Halfords. I've seen 3 carc crashs there in the last few months. The traffic management system there is useless.

I have used that road since it was built cant remember how long ago though.

Infact I used to work down there when Currys was in the Halfords building.

I agree it works well and could probably used in other areas successfully

A few drivers still get a little confused and find they are in the wrong lane at the lights and try to change lanes late

Originally posted by carcrash
I do a few gigs at The Earl which is the pub on the corner opposite Halfords. I've seen 3 carc crashs there in the last few months. The traffic management system there is useless.

Ever considered its not the system just very bad drivers - i've had several near misses because some people have no sense of lane discipline (sp?)

One crash was the result of bad driving, 2 others I've seen recently one involving a police car don't seem to have been.
It seems that the light sequence on the traffic lights seems a bit messed up at times.
Another problem is that part of bramall lane is one way for about 100 metres and some people going from town towards Myrtal Road don't seen to realise it. Where the cycle shop is. i know of fatal car crash there a few months ago and a really bad crash 2 weeks ago.

from what i can remember i believe the tidal flow system was installed around 81/82. It was the alternative to the origional idea of the by -pass through Heeley (which was why a lot of the old housing was cleared where the farm now is). The reason i know it was in place in 82 was the first Sheffield Marathon came through here, and a few of the overhead signs had the milage indicators tied onto them, with a giant x painted roughly, onto the shiney new gantrys that they had used. (still visable today).

Originally, the tidal flow system was introduced there to try to overcome the bottleneck created by the bridge over the river at Heeley Bottom where it was very narrow. An imaginative solution to the problem and it seemed to work successfully for many years.

It actually extended to just beyond the railway bridge and finished about the bottom of Thirlwell Rd when it was orginally introduced and it was extremely efficient.

It was allowed to be cut it back to Broadfield Rd as few years ago as the traffic management officers in Sheffield Council decided it was unsafe these days. I think some of the reasons given were that people were unable to follow signage resulting in accidents and also the cost of replacing the overhead gantries was going to be prohibitive. They also said that when the river bridge was replaced it would be wider ... for some reason this didn't happen, so we now have the present odd truncated layout that's there today.

The officers in Sheffield council seemed to be just against it, the same way they are against mini roundabouts and many other traffic management methods. They don't really know why - they just don't like them - but they seem to love road cushions to excess ...:P

Originally posted by Fudbeer
I have used that road since it was built cant remember how long ago though.

Infact I used to work down there when Currys was in the Halfords building.

I agree it works well and could probably used in other areas successfully.

A few drivers still get a little confused and find they are in the wrong lane at the lights and try to change lanes late Actually the tidal flow system is VERY good, but the Bramall Lane/Queens Rd is a terrible one.

As a child, I can remember the system back in the eighties. So as said above, installed early eighties.

Note that the lanes are as such:
2 north/2 south in the morning + 2 north on London Rd South.
1 north + 3 south (outer line for Wolsley Rd).

The system used to go as far south as London Road beyond the railway bridge, but all that is left is the poles. Probably taken down in 2000 when Heeley Bridge got reconstructed.

It's a good system, but there's always a retard to not understand it ... Same with everything really.
It's excellent, and traffic on Queens Road is actually bearable with the system apart from the inner lane towards Chesterfield Rd during the afternoon rush.

I can take some piccies if you need any, I'm only a few minutes walk from it.

I don't know how anyone could have a mistake realising that the end of Bramall Lane is one way as it has a huge traffic island right across where the left hand lane would be. Wasn't that fatal accident due to someone deliberately going up that stretch the wrong way, rather than making an error?

The system on Queen's Road is pretty good. I've not seen this elsewhere (likewise - the traffic lights on roundabouts system which Sheffield operates is an excellent idea) and it does work in getting traffic quickly away, as long as you don't get an idiot. I've seen more than a few accidents down there and they all seem due to the following:
1. those who block the yellow junction box at the foot of Myrtle Road.
2. those heading from Chesterfield Rd and attempting to turn right into either Halfords or Myrtle Rd, which is clearly signposted as not allowed.
3. those heading from town attempting to turn right into Bramall Lane at the foot of Myrtle Road.
4. those heading from town towards Chesterfield Rd who are oblivious to the tidal flow and then get irate and pull out too quickly when stuck behind people waiting to go right at the lights into Wolsely Rd.

An extra sign or two and a few traffic cameras down there to catch idiots might soon sort these problems out.