Woodseats the nightmare continues

[mahonia 10]

...... and was dismissed by the planners in the end due to 'tidal flow' being increasingly out of favour due to the numbers of accidents, not just in Sheffield but elsewhere. Also, the cost of maintenance was a factor.?

 

I know of a a few other area that have tidal flow and those are for road for higer speed , here were talking about a 30mph built up area.

 

In the years the " Heeley " tidal flow have been up and running ( Must be 30 years + ? ) I have never seen it broken and the only maintenance is changing of the bulbs in the white arrows

[Planner1 428]

I know of a a few other area that have tidal flow and those are for road for higer speed , here were talking about a 30mph built up area.

 

In the years the " Heeley " tidal flow have been up and running ( Must be 30 years + ? ) I have never seen it broken and the only maintenance is changing of the bulbs in the white arrows

 

The Heeley tidal flow does have occasional "breakdowns", usually due to communications equipment. These are quite easy to fix as the equipment is inroadside cabinets.

 

The illuminated overhead arrows are difficult to maintain because a hoist has to be used and this needs a lot of traffic management measures, which are costly. so, maintenance is an issue.

[Planner1 428]

IIRC correctly it was discussed as an option for the entire length of road from Queens Road to the Abbey Lane junction and was dismissed by the planners in the end due to 'tidal flow' being increasingly out of favour due to the numbers of accidents, not just in Sheffield but elsewhere. Also, the cost of maintenance was a factor. I would say at this point that I'm a fan of tidal flow and thought and still think that it would have solved most of the complaints.

 

I agree about the side roads, especially as they're all double parked anyway, it'd probably be a welcome relief to the residents?

Experience in Sheffield and elsewhere shows that tidal flow systems work best in areas which have no side roads entering onto the system.

 

The problem for many people is that they come along the tidal flow system when it's in one configuration, go down a side road adn visit a few shops, then come back onto the system and expect it to be still running the same configuration, which can result in them turning out into the wrong lane and coming into head-on conflit with other vehicles.

 

Three are also ongoing problems at some of the traffic signal junctions on the tidal flow system, which suffere from problems with people running the red light. These are not normal red light running type incidents as they tend to occur well into the red period, suggesting the driver has not seen the red signals at all (I've witnessed one of these). That's why there is a red light camera down there. Personaly, I think, at least in part, the tidal flow system contributes to theis problem as drivers are looking up at the gantry signs.

 

There are relatively few side roads on the Heeley system, but there are still collisions. There are a lot more side roads in the Woodseats area, so I don't think it would be suitable for tidal flow if these were to be kept open.

 

There is also the visual intrusion aspect. The gantries aren't exactly nice looking. Would you want one outside your house?

Edited May 31, 2011 by Planner1

[Obelix 11]

I always quite liked the Queens road tidal flow - it never seemed to be a problem and in about eight years of daily commute I never say a wrong lane incident. I'm not saying they didn't happen, but it must have been rare.

 

As for Woodseats it's always been a disaster there and the problem is simply too much traffic for the roads. Short of demolishing buildings and adding lanes I don't think people will even manage to do much to really solve to problems there.

 

The only solution I ever saw that might have worked was to join Smithy wood road onto Chesterfield road, reprioritise the Smithy wood/Woodseats road junction and make it so that Chesterfield road/woodseats road/smithywood became one long one way system to keep things running. Cost and local objections though probably meant it would never even get off the planning dream board but I always wondered if that would have helped.

[Obelix 11]

Expereince in Sheffield and elsewhere shows that tidal flow systems work best in areas which have no side roads entering onto the system.

 

The problem for many people is that they come along the tidal flow system when it's in one configuration, go down a side road adn visit a few shops, then come back onto the system and expect it to be still running the same configuration, which can result in them turning out into the wrong lane and coming into head-on conflit with other vehicles.

 

Surely the solution to that is to only permit left turns onto the tidal flow system so they join left hand most and will always be ok (unless it complety reverses flow of course!)

 

How does it swap lanes though? I've never ever seen it do it - does it evacuate the changeover lane for a fixed period of time and ban all flow in it, or has it smart sensors that can detect occupancy?

[Planner1 428]

Surely the solution to that is to only permit left turns onto the tidal flow system so they join left hand most and will always be ok (unless it complety reverses flow of course!)

 

How does it swap lanes though? I've never ever seen it do it - does it evacuate the changeover lane for a fixed period of time and ban all flow in it, or has it smart sensors that can detect occupancy?

 

Yes, but "closing" roads is a hot political issue. The Lib-Dem administration had a principled objection to any closures. There are a lot of residents in Woodseats and as soon as you propose something which means they will have to drive a little further to get to / from their homes, a lot of people will object and Councillors will find it difficul to approve measures which the majority of residents do not want.

 

The changeover is acheived through clearing out all traffic from the changeover lane for several minutes before the change actually takes place. The technology is pretty old, dates back to the 1980's if I remember rightly.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Planner1

[mahonia 10]

The Heeley tidal flow does have occasional "breakdowns", usually due to communications equipment. These are quite easy to fix as the equipment is inroadside cabinets.

 

The illuminated overhead arrows are difficult to maintain because a hoist has to be used and this needs a lot of traffic management measures, which are costly. so, maintenance is an issue.

 

As you point out " These are quite easy to fix " which is a plus

 

We have moved on a bit from the fluorescent tubes in the white arrows and I guess all fixtures would be L.E.D lights.

 

As i said Woodseats would be made a 3 lane road , out of peak hours 7am-930am & 3pm-7pm one of the lanes would show a letter "P" this would mean you could park in that lane

[retep 68]

Yes, but "closing" roads is a hot political issue. The Lib-Dem administration had a principled objection to any closures. There are a lot of residents in Woodseats and as soon as you propose something which means they will have to drive a little further to get to / from their homes, a lot of people will object and Councillors will find it difficul to approve measures which the majority of residents do not want.

 

The changeover is acheived through clearing out all traffic from the changeover lane for several minutes before the change actually takes place. The technology is pretty old, dates back to the 1980's if I remember rightly.

 

You mean they had sense where as liebore has none.

[BHRemovals 10]

I agree chesterfield rd is a nightmare.

[Blue Moon 10]

Why do these lights turn red when there is nothing in the Bus Lane? Are they taking the #iss?

[Planner1 428]

Why do these lights turn red when there is nothing in the Bus Lane? Are they taking the #iss?

Queue management. Queue is held there to minimise congestion further downstream and smooth out traffic flows.

[Burnsie 10]

I currently live in Woodseats (yay me). I live near "little tescos" so miss all the fuss going into Sheffield. I used to live on Abbey Lane and used to take the back roads to work, so have never really tried to drive down Chez road at rush hour because I know what it will be like.

 

However, is woodseats any worse than driving down Eccey Road into Sheffield?

 

However, the Mrs wants to move the Dronfiled which will add a few mins on my daily drive

 

My main critisum of woodseats is coming from Sheffield towards the woodseats junction. At rush hour, the bus lane is in operation. I want to turn left to go up Scaresdale road. I have to wait in traffic that is all going through woodseats. As you approach the end of the bus lane, each lane (normal traffic and bus lane) have two "forward" arrows on them. However, as there is no additional markings and all the traffic merge into the middle of this large lane stopping all the traffic that wants to turn left. Surely, if wide enough there should be a proper left filter lane??

 

Now, when we've finished with Woodseats can we tackle university roundabout?? :hihi: