Traffic snarl-up exposes fragile network

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 7th Feb 2008

Local Liberal Democrats have highlighted Sheffield's fragile road network and are calling for a review of 'no right turns' and one-way roads

Traffic travelling into Sheffield from the West of the City faced massive tailbacks this morning due to one incident. As a result of collapsed sewer, Glossop Road has been closed and commuters face gridlock. The Leader of the Lib Dem group on Sheffield City Council was caught up in the snarl-up. It took Cllr Paul Scriven over an hour to get from Hunters Bar into the City Centre, a journey that would normally take no more than 10 minutes.

Lib Dems believe that, through shutting down through routes between major roads, the Council has brought about a situation where gridlock is almost inevitable when there is an incident.

Local Liberal Democrats have highlighted Sheffield's fragile road network and are calling for a review of 'no right turns' and one-way roads, which are unnecessarily causing problems.

Glossop Road in Sheffield is expected to remain closed for the rest of the week. The problem is being dealt with by Yorkshire Water, which is investigating the cause of the collapse and due to carry out repairs.

Cllr Paul Scriven, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Sheffield City Council and local Broomhill Councillor, said: -

"Despite assurances from the Labour Council, it's clear from the unacceptable gridlock in the West of the City that Sheffields road network is as fragile as ever."

"Local people don't expect the Council to predict when and where there is going to be an incident. However, they do expect there to be some sort of contingency plan in place if things do go wrong - which was sadly lacking in this instance."

"Our network has been designed by Labour in such a way that one single incident can cause misery for thousands of commuters. We urgently need to review the entire road network to try and improve traffic flow."

"For example, there is no need for the number of no right turns and one-way streets that have been created by Labour. People are unable to move between major routes, which causes chaos when one those major routes is out of action. It's clear that planners in the Town Hall need to seriously rethink their policies."