New 'Dutch' roundabout opens with with 'safer' options for cyclists and pedestrians

Watch a video (click to play above) which shows the official launch of a new ‘Dutch-style’ roundabout - which is designed to give priority, and greater safety, to pedestrians and cyclists.

With thousands of new homes coming to the city centre area, “fit for the future” infrastructure, like the new roundabout, will give people more choice on how they travel, councillor Ben Miskell tells The Star, in the video clip above. At the official opening of the West Bar roundabout today, Monday, December 9, Coun Miskell, the chair of the transport, regeneration and climate policy committee, said: “It’s making it much safer for people to walk, but also to cycle in this area. That’s really important because it’s part of a wider investment in our city centre.

“We’ve got to make sure the infrastructure is fit for the future. We have 20,000 homes to be delivered in the city centre so it’s really important for Sheffield City Council that we are ready for the change in our city centre.” All entrances and exits from the roundabout have a zebra crossing on and a cycle lane runs all the way around the outside.

It is part of an £18 million project which has played a part in running active travel infrastructure from the city centre out to areas like Kelham Island - in which fewer residents own motor vehicles.

Coun Miskell said: “We know that by investing in infrastructure like this, by making fabulous public spaces, we’re actually increasing people’s time that they spend in the city centre; increasing their confidence to come into the city centre, to bring their family and, ultimately, spend more money.”

Since the roundabout was announced in the planning stage, social media users, specifically keen motorists, have been vocal about their displeasure with the project.

“Fundamentally, it’s about giving people more choice on how they travel,” Coun Miskell responded, “There’ll always be thousands of car parking spaces in Sheffield city centre.

“It will always be part of the mix, but it’s incumbent on the council to make sure people have got some genuine choice about how they travel into the city centre.”

The official opening in Sheffield was well-attended with dozens of cyclists and walking group members giving the roundabout a go.

Ed Clancy, the South Yorkshire Active Travel Commissioner, said: “New walking, wheeling and cycling projects are happening right across South Yorkshire - creating better places and more opportunities for us all to move more and move differently.

“The West Bar scheme demonstrates Sheffield Council's ambition and commitment to being at the forefront of design that gives people more freedom and choice about getting around.”

Lee Long, the senior project manager from the contractors behind the project, Sisk, said, whilst there were delays, he is pleased with the end result.

He said: “When we started the conjestion was really busy during rush hour on this street, but I can see a marked improvement.”

During the opening event, cyclists and pedestrians moved seamlessly between the cars using the junction to navigate around West Bar and up towards Broad Lane and Tenter Street.

Mr Clancy said he knows using roundabouts like the new one can be confusing at first - drawing on his experience driving around major European cities in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands during his cycling career - but said drivers get very used to it, very quickly.