Meadowhead Roundabout And Traffic Problems

[bassett one 447]

but once back to normal,we will see what happens,but st james retail park is always busy now and once its fully open,its the lane that over flows inwards from the garage side that the problem,it blocks forward traffic to norton,also with the proposed football and sports exhibition centre,it could cause extra problems,then you may find even more going the way via the estates.

[abbeyedges 82]

One of the problems with St James Park is the one entrance / one exit. Both from and onto the same road.

 

If the Football complex on the old transport ground gets the green light (excuse the pun) and if traffic will be seen as a problem then there should be an entrance into the complex say from Chesterfield Road South and then all traffic to exit onto Greenhill Parkway. 

 

(With the state of our two professional clubs I can see the demand for season tickets at Sheffield FC being very high).  

[bassett one 447]

i hope sheffield FC ,do well and i hope the world of football,gets loads of visitors from all over the world,theres a great hotel opposite and other shops could profit,also we are the home of football,but we will need a major road sort out as,sheffield FC have 3-4 teams and the centre visitors,but bring it on,and sort out meadowhead roundabout ect.

[enntee 10]

5 hours ago, abbeyedges said:

One of the problems with St James Park is the one entrance / one exit. Both from and onto the same road.

...

An added problem is that the carpark design, with narrow lanes and tight corners, leads to slow access causing tailbacks.

[Bargepole23 337]

6 hours ago, abbeyedges said:

One of the problems with St James Park is the one entrance / one exit. Both from and onto the same road.

 

If the Football complex on the old transport ground gets the green light (excuse the pun) and if traffic will be seen as a problem then there should be an entrance into the complex say from Chesterfield Road South and then all traffic to exit onto Greenhill Parkway. 

 

(With the state of our two professional clubs I can see the demand for season tickets at Sheffield FC being very high).  

Very true, was a struggle to get a ticket to watch Hallam up at Sandygate at the start of the season even on a miserable Tuesday night. 500 plus crowds, where in the last few years you would get a 100 or so midweek.

[WarPig 75]

2 hours ago, enntee said:

An added problem is that the carpark design, with narrow lanes and tight corners, leads to slow access causing tailbacks.

The corners are tight. I don't think car park access is the best. I guess the long entrance road into the retail park is to get as many cars off the main road as possible? But the tight T junction at the end makes traffic trying to enter to move slow, causing traffic to back up, This can affect traffic on the main road waiting to turn into the retail park.

 

Even as a pedestrian getting from one side of the park to the other can be a struggle with limited gaps in the fencing to get through. It's just not a very well thought out car park for being user friendly.

 

They probably designed the car park to have the maximum number of parking spaces, at the expense of traffic flow.

[bassett one 447]

i agree,i think they were thinking about planning ,not excepting the idea,unless loads of car spaces,but the waiting side is not long enough,leading to a back up,then it blocks the forward lane,people seem to think only a few people will visit the new football ground/visitor centre,i think many will as its a shrine to football,thus this could cause access problems and make the roundabout,even worse ,with traffic.

[WarPig 75]

13 minutes ago, bassett one said:

people seem to think only a few people will visit the new football ground/visitor centre,i think many will as its a shrine to football,thus this could cause access problems and make the roundabout,even worse ,with traffic.

I think Sheffield FC themselves are selling the idea based on there being 3 billion football fans that might want to see where their sport first began.

 

I just hope those 3 billion don't descend on Meadowhead all on the same Saturday, though Im happy to rent out my driveway for parking, reasonably extortionate rates apply 🙂

[bassett one 447]

i think 2-3 thousand visitors per week,also are they offering public gym facilities?,but i hope they offer a tram service,as even 500/600 extra cars each sat would cause problems at the roundabout.

[AndrewC 301]

On 16/03/2021 at 10:51, bassett one said:

i think 2-3 thousand visitors per week,also are they offering public gym facilities?,but i hope they offer a tram service,as even 500/600 extra cars each sat would cause problems at the roundabout.

With the Herdings Park line 'just up the road' and with such an array of destinations all lumped together in the area, it is a tantalisingly good spot to extend the tram out to along the ring road. I know there are buses out there but the tram is a real game-changer for most people when it comes to leaving the car at home and taking public transport. Though truthfully, most problems are caused by local residents driving to the retail park and all the through traffic (between West & South Sheffield and Chesterfield), so it might be good for new visitors from the city centre etc, but it might not actually impact much on the traffic which causes problems on the roundabout.

 

Unfortunately 'just up the road' probably equates to countless millions in construction costs and so you can expect to never see it materialise in our lifetimes save for a remarkable turnaround in national transport spending policy. Utilising the tram-train technology (as tested nationally between Meadowhall & Parkgate), might be a cheaper option but would still be tricky to route up the hill from Millhouses/Totley  and still cost plenty.

 

 

I know some people won't like to hear this but ultimately, you can keep trying to do what you want to the roundabout, adjoining roads, access points etc., road widening (you'll just encourage more cars), amendments to the lane layouts (rearranging the deckchairs with minimal impact on traffic levels). But the real problem is always too many cars. Too many of the trips generated by all these destinations and through routes are taken by private motor vehicle.

 

But, build a retail park with a massive car park in the middle of low-density cluster of suburbs, and everyone is going to drive, aren't they? And when you suggest that maybe they should try not to, or suggest taking a minimal amount of car parking spaces and road space to provide better walking and cycling facilities (including for cargo bikes) then usually people just laugh at you and call you ridiculous, and tell you their specific reason for why they couldn't possibly do without the car and so completely dismiss the idea of anyone walking or cycling, before going back to wondering why there is so much traffic on their roundabout...

[WarPig 75]

41 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

With the Herdings Park line 'just up the road' and with such an array of destinations all lumped together in the area, it is a tantalisingly good spot to extend the tram out to along the ring road.

The ring road from Herdings to Meadowhead might even be wide enough to accommodate the tram in the central reservation, especially along Bochum Parkway. By the time it gets to St James retail park there might be less free width in the road to accommodate two tramlines. I wonder if a single tram line would work, but with less frequency? Or perhaps sharing road space with cars?

 

I can imagine at morning rush hour the tram would fill up at Meadowhead, with nobody being able to get on by the time it gets to Townend, and vice versa in the town centre heading out of town.

Edited March 17, 2021 by WarPig

[bassett one 447]

i agree with that,couldnt the turning point be made at the new football ground?