To Zip Or Not To Zip

[Weredoomed 10]

Do people realise that it would only require approximately 700m or so of widening for there to be two lanes all the way from Coisley Hill roundabout up to the Sheffield Parkway junction. Which should make traffic flow far better, dare one venture. The 700m need not be done in one hit, rather it is perfectly possible to do it over several years, a couple of hundred metres or so at a time. Softly, softly, catchee monkey.

 

You may also not realise that to make Sheffield Parkway inbound 3 lanes wide from Mosborough Parkway to Park Square would only require around 1km or so of widening. Much of this widening could also easily be done incrementally over a number of years. For example to make it 3 lanes from Mosborough Parkway to the Manor Lane exit, (a distance of around a mile), would only require about 100m or so of new carriageway building, between the Markets exit and entry slip roads. To any civil engineering contractor this would be a very quick and simple scheme to build.

 

Indeed look at Sheffield Parkway generally between Park Square and Mosborough Parkway - the original land take was such as to allow it to be widened to 3 lanes in both directions. And yet SCC have done little to achieve this despite traffic growth over the decades.

 

Makes one wonder why SCC don't actually crack on and do these comparatively small schemes, if they truly are serious about keeping business activity in the city centre vibrant.

 

They are serious about that, aren't they?

 

Oh.

 

Ah.

 

Well never mind, I'm sure the various businesses involved will relocate elsewhere.

[Weredoomed 10]

On 28/12/2019 at 13:54, TheNugget said:

Not all of them. Just the ones that sit in the left lane ignoring an empty right lane, back up the roundabout and then either; 

a) position their car as to block traffic in the right lane.

b) drive within 2 inches of the car in front and refuse to allow someone in ‘their’ space.

c) look at you with righteous indignation in their (incorrect) assumption that they are in the right.

 

 

I've never understood this "everyone drive in the nearside lane" mentality on a dual carriageway that seems so prevalent in Sheffield. Just bad driving plain and simple. The IRR clockwise, heading towards Glossop Road seems to be a prime example of where this occurs but I'm sure there are many other locations.

[Longcol 602]

On 22/12/2019 at 00:58, simonj said:

Drive this route both ways every day and always use the right hand lane if there's queuing traffic. The two lanes are there for a reason, not using the outside lane would be a waste of tarmac! Unfortunately there's always a few that think you're queue jumping and move over to block the lane. There's only one situation there that doesn't contravene the Highway Code and it's not the one I choose    

 

I've seen a number of threads over the years on here discussing this and suggesting that there should be merge in turn signs in place. Whilst that may go some way to enlighten the enraged, it wouldn't be really necessary if people were aware of the Highway Code rules on this. Of course, it would have been sensible to build the road wider with two lanes throughout but we have what we have and I doubt it's going to change.

 

The Highway Code isn't altogether clear on this in my opinion as the examples it gives are  temorary blockage of one lane  eg  roadworks or accident causing lane closure.

 

Is this being taught as part of the driving test now? It wasn't when I passed my test 30 odd years ago.

 

Also a little confused as Coisley Hill being used as an example in the OP (a while since I used it I'll admit) -  on the A57 there are two lanes on the approach to the roundabout  - one left and straight on, one right and straight on. Are people wanting to turn left going down the outside lane and expecting to merge to allow them to turn left?

Edited December 30, 2019 by Longcol

[Longcol 602]

1 hour ago, Weredoomed said:

I've never understood this "everyone drive in the nearside lane" mentality on a dual carriageway that seems so prevalent in Sheffield. Just bad driving plain and simple. The IRR clockwise, heading towards Glossop Road seems to be a prime example of where this occurs but I'm sure there are many other locations.

Easy if the outside lane is empty, the nearside lane is chokka and you want to go up to Broomhill - carry on up to the roundabout in OS lane and do a complete circuit of the roundabout. Often do the same at the end of the M67 coming towards Glossop when the queues in the NS lane can be several hundred yards long.

 

Much easier to get in the correct exit lane on a roundabout than be seen as "queue jumping" by people who've been sat there for a while.

[kevvy 12]

"Weredoomed"    I agree, I can't understand why the road wasn't built that way in the first place !   Obviously traffic numbers were only going to increase !

[Planner1 438]

18 hours ago, Weredoomed said:

Do people realise that it would only require approximately 700m or so of widening for there to be two lanes all the way from Coisley Hill roundabout up to the Sheffield Parkway junction. Which should make traffic flow far better, dare one venture. The 700m need not be done in one hit, rather it is perfectly possible to do it over several years, a couple of hundred metres or so at a time. Softly, softly, catchee monkey.

 

 

I once sat down with the highway engineers in Sheffield and looked at whether the Mosborough Parkway could be widened to 2 lanes in each direction between Coisley Hill and Sheffield Parkway. We concluded that it could not without affecting the bridges which go over it at several points. Having to build new bridges would cost an awful lot of money and the topography doesn't lend itself to a nice cheap widening scheme either. You also have to ask yourself how much benefit there would really be. Speeding up the traffic on Mosborough Parkway would just get it to the  queue on Sheffield Parkway a bit sooner, so congestion on there would just be worse.  How much time would you really save?

 

We looked at all the options to configure the lane arrangements in different ways to maybe speed up traffic in one direction, but reluctantly I had to agree with them that the current arrangement is the best that can be done with the current road layout. (The centre lane was originally intended as a "give and take" lane for overtaking in either direction, but the Police deemed it unsafe, so it had to be changed to the current layout). 

[DT Ralge 10]

37 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

I once sat down with the highway engineers in Sheffield and looked at whether the Mosborough Parkway could be widened to 2 lanes in each direction between Coisley Hill and Sheffield Parkway. We concluded that it could not without affecting the bridges which go over it at several points. Having to build new bridges would cost an awful lot of money and the topography doesn't lend itself to a nice cheap widening scheme either. You also have to ask yourself how much benefit there would really be. Speeding up the traffic on Mosborough Parkway would just get it to the  queue on Sheffield Parkway a bit sooner, so congestion on there would just be worse.  How much time would you really save?

 

We looked at all the options to configure the lane arrangements in different ways to maybe speed up traffic in one direction, but reluctantly I had to agree with them that the current arrangement is the best that can be done with the current road layout. (The centre lane was originally intended as a "give and take" lane for overtaking in either direction, but the Police deemed it unsafe, so it had to be changed to the current layout). 

Ah, the good old days when there were three lanes: one on the left side, another on the right side - the one in the middle?    How about suicide?

Edited December 31, 2019 by DT Ralge

[Bargepole23 337]

On 30/12/2019 at 20:13, Weredoomed said:

Do people realise that it would only require approximately 700m or so of widening for there to be two lanes all the way from Coisley Hill roundabout up to the Sheffield Parkway junction. Which should make traffic flow far better, dare one venture. The 700m need not be done in one hit, rather it is perfectly possible to do it over several years, a couple of hundred metres or so at a time. Softly, softly, catchee monkey.

 

You may also not realise that to make Sheffield Parkway inbound 3 lanes wide from Mosborough Parkway to Park Square would only require around 1km or so of widening. Much of this widening could also easily be done incrementally over a number of years. For example to make it 3 lanes from Mosborough Parkway to the Manor Lane exit, (a distance of around a mile), would only require about 100m or so of new carriageway building, between the Markets exit and entry slip roads. To any civil engineering contractor this would be a very quick and simple scheme to build.

 

Indeed look at Sheffield Parkway generally between Park Square and Mosborough Parkway - the original land take was such as to allow it to be widened to 3 lanes in both directions. And yet SCC have done little to achieve this despite traffic growth over the decades.

 

Makes one wonder why SCC don't actually crack on and do these comparatively small schemes, if they truly are serious about keeping business activity in the city centre vibrant.

 

They are serious about that, aren't they?

 

Oh.

 

Ah.

 

Well never mind, I'm sure the various businesses involved will relocate elsewhere.

That bit between the markets slip roads is a bridge, how's that going to be quick and simple?

[Weredoomed 10]

On 31/12/2019 at 14:47, Planner1 said:

I once sat down with the highway engineers in Sheffield and looked at whether the Mosborough Parkway could be widened to 2 lanes in each direction between Coisley Hill and Sheffield Parkway. We concluded that it could not without affecting the bridges which go over it at several points. Having to build new bridges would cost an awful lot of money and the topography doesn't lend itself to a nice cheap widening scheme either. You also have to ask yourself how much benefit there would really be. Speeding up the traffic on Mosborough Parkway would just get it to the  queue on Sheffield Parkway a bit sooner, so congestion on there would just be worse.  How much time would you really save?

 

We looked at all the options to configure the lane arrangements in different ways to maybe speed up traffic in one direction, but reluctantly I had to agree with them that the current arrangement is the best that can be done with the current road layout. (The centre lane was originally intended as a "give and take" lane for overtaking in either direction, but the Police deemed it unsafe, so it had to be changed to the current layout). 

Good old SCC, the "sit back and do nothing" attitude strikes again.

On 31/12/2019 at 14:47, Planner1 said:

I once sat down with the highway engineers in Sheffield and looked at whether the Mosborough Parkway could be widened to 2 lanes in each direction between Coisley Hill and Sheffield Parkway. We concluded that it could not without affecting the bridges which go over it at several points. Having to build new bridges would cost an awful lot of money and the topography doesn't lend itself to a nice cheap widening scheme either. You also have to ask yourself how much benefit there would really be. Speeding up the traffic on Mosborough Parkway would just get it to the  queue on Sheffield Parkway a bit sooner, so congestion on there would just be worse.  How much time would you really save?

 

We looked at all the options to configure the lane arrangements in different ways to maybe speed up traffic in one direction, but reluctantly I had to agree with them that the current arrangement is the best that can be done with the current road layout. (The centre lane was originally intended as a "give and take" lane for overtaking in either direction, but the Police deemed it unsafe, so it had to be changed to the current layout). 

...and you conveniently ignore my comments on how easy it would be to widen Sheffield Parkway which, coupled with widening Mosborough Parkway would ease access into the city centre.

[Weredoomed 10]

On 01/01/2020 at 08:54, Bargepole23 said:

That bit between the markets slip roads is a bridge, how's that going to be quick and simple?

You'll note that the bridge is already paved:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3793189,-1.4269308,186m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

Excavating the grass verge and converting it to an extra lane would be extremely quick and simple. The 3 discrete sections of verge you can see on that overhead image - any competent civil engineering contract could do that job in less than a month.

[Longcol 602]

3 hours ago, Weredoomed said:

You'll note that the bridge is already paved:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3793189,-1.4269308,186m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

Excavating the grass verge and converting it to an extra lane would be extremely quick and simple. The 3 discrete sections of verge you can see on that overhead image - any competent civil engineering contract could do that job in less than a month.

I think that reconfiguring all the entry and exit slip roads betweem Moborough Parkway and Park Square to give 3 lanes on the Parkway would be a far bigger job than you're making it out to be.

 

And who is going to pay for this?

[Bargepole23 337]

19 hours ago, Weredoomed said:

You'll note that the bridge is already paved:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3793189,-1.4269308,186m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

Excavating the grass verge and converting it to an extra lane would be extremely quick and simple. The 3 discrete sections of verge you can see on that overhead image - any competent civil engineering contract could do that job in less than a month.

Presumably you work in highway engineering?