Hi-tech signs for drivers ‘no cure for gridlock’

Around £300,000 is to be spent on electronic traffic update screens warning drivers coming into Leeds of traffic problems and roadworks – but they won’t solve gridlock, highways chiefs have admitted.

The city council is spending the money to try to ease some of the problems which in recent years have caused misery for thousands.

On some occasions just a single broken down vehicle, roadworks or crash have caused traffic to come to a virtual standstill.

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The 11 screens, which measure 1m by 1.5m, have been placed at strategic points on the edge of the city centre to give motorists plenty of time to change their route.

They will go on the A61 (three), A653, A58, A65, A660, and A64 as well as on East Street, Park Lane and Chapeltown Road.

Traffic management chiefs say the signs, due to be switched on later this month, will give a variety of information, including possible alternative routes.

The signs will be useful for shoppers, taxi and delivery drivers and commuters.

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Each sign costs £25,000 and allows the council to display four lines of information, with 17 characters per line, as well as simple logos to warn of queueing traffic or other hazards.

Highways chiefs say the signs will not solve congestion or gridlock but they will help give motorists more information about the traffic ahead or future conditions.

A council spokeswoman said it was one of the first authorities in the country to use the technology.

“The high-defintion screens will be used to tell the travelling public about any major incidents affecting traffic or road works on city centre roads including the inner ring road.

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Leeds City Council’s urban traffic management centre will control the screens and will post urgent traffic messages and also messages about upcoming road works on the screens to pre-warn travellers.”

Gary Bartlett, Leeds Council’s chief officer for highways and transportation said: “These signs will provide advanced warning to people travelling into Leeds of any planned road works or incidents that have happened.

“By installing these signs it should ease of some of the city centre traffic and allow people to plan alternative routes.

“One imminent use for the signs will be to warn the travelling public of the essential refurbishment works to the inner ring road tunnels starting in mid- June.

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“Advance notice of the affected weekends will help the travelling public to plan alternative routes, minimising the impact of the works on their journeys.”

A council spokeswoman said Leeds was one of the first cities in the UK to make use of high definition, two-colour signs which “ensure the right information is presented clearly to road users.”

“By helping people avoid major congestion the signs should make Leeds an easier place to travel in,” said the spokeswoman.

Gordon Robertson, the council’s urban traffic management control manager, said the exciting thing about the signs was their “versatility” as they can display words and simple images.

“There is a growing trend toward informing the public better.”