Scheme to curb traffic jams hits the brakes as costs soar by £1m

PLANS to ease congestion in Rotherham by replacing a busy roundabout with a crossroads and traffic lights are to be scrapped after costs increased by more than £1m.

Traffic engineers have been forced to send the Pool Green roundabout project back to the drawing board after feasibilty studies revealed the cost.

Improvements at the junction, where Centenary Way meets Main Street, were suggested as part of the South Yorkshire Intelligent Transport System study, carried out in 2007.

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Other projects proposed under the study for congested Centenary Way, including traffic light installation on the town's St Ann's and Ickles roundabouts, went ahead last year.

But the more complicated plan for the Pool Green site was delayed to allow that work to progress and in the intervening time the bill for the scheme has gone up from 3m to 4m.

The implications of the cost increase are detailed in a report which will be considered by Rotherham Council's cabinet member for transport Coun Gerald Smith next week.

The report's author, senior engineer Andrew Butler, says the junction, also known as the Masbrough roundabout, had been identified in the transport study as a hotspot for jams.

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His report says: "The study identified that a traffic light-controlled crossroads in place of the existing roundabout at Pool Green would ease congestion on this part of Centenary Way.

"The estimated cost of such an improvement was approximately 3m.

"The current estimated cost is now 4m due to increased construction costs and costs from utility firms."

According to the latest information, one utility company has submitted a projected cost of 600,000 to divert its services to make way for the roundabout conversion work.

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Highways engineers said they had a maximum budget of 2.9m for the scheme, and if it were to go ahead, cash would have to be found from other budgets putting future projects at risk.

A second concern is the cuts in public spending predicted after the general election, which could see the so-called Local Transport Plan funding pot reduced by as much as 40 per cent.

Transport bosses fear that if extra cash were spent on the Pool Green proposals, schemes such as planned improvements of the A57 at junction 31 of the M1 would be jeopardised.

Mr Butler will tell Coun Smith at a meeting next week: "To proceed with this particular project would require all other transportation projects funded from the LTP to be curtailed.

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"This would affect the delivery of those projects, such as the A57 and Waverley Link road major schemes, the funding of emergency bridge

repairs on the A630 Parkway and further funding for the A631 West Bawtry Road major scheme.

"It is unlikely that the estimated costs associated with the

signalisation of the Pool Green junction would reduce and it is

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unlikely that additional funding sources could be identified in the current economic climate. With this in mind it would be prudent to not proceed with the project at this time."

According to the council 450,000 has already been allocated to the Pool Green scheme and this will be used to "develop and deliver in part an alternative traffic management scheme".

Mr Butler's report admits that this solution "may not be as successful at achieving the goals of easing congestion" or at relieving the concerns of some of the residents who are affected by traffic.

A final decision on what should happen at the junction will be made at a meeting between highways engineers and Coun Smith on Monday.

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