Spending Really Speeding Heeley? (2)

Heeley was the terminus of one of the first horse tram services in Sheffield.

In the above picture, Thirlwell Road is on the left and the former Heeley Station would appear on the right.

Just along a few yard and round to the left on Albert Road was the depot.

Latterly it became a garage (National petrol - National Benzole company). That operation became part of BP and eventually the brand was phased out in favour of the corporate daisy.

A few year ago the building lost its roof but this has now been replaced ...

... and the open sided "shed" now serves as a parking area for new flats. But, amazingly, the frontage still stands.

Electric trams replaced horse power and the route was progressively extended, First  to Woodseats and then to the City boundary at Meadowhead.

The road had to be lowered under the Heeley railway bridge to get the double deck tram through ...

... and note that the overhead power wires were actually fixed to the underside of the bridge structure, possibly tacked on to a plank of wood. Modern tram wiring regulations would certainly mean that double deckers would never be allowed under there - but as nobody seems to want double deck trams today, preferring very long articulated units, it is only a theoretical problem!

In modern times, the lowering of the road surface often led to flooding.

Heeley remained a vibrant community well into the sixties. It had plenty of shops and the opulent Electric Picture Palace.

The grand entrance was changed somewhat in its later years ...

... followed by closure and, latterly, demolition in favour of an additional new showroom for Ponsford's furniture store complete with footbridge linking the two.

But as traffic has increased the constricted road under the bridge and its equally constricted approaches has become a growing problem.

The first attempt was to created three (or was it four?) lanes with the centre one being signalled for "peak flow" - into City in the morning and out in the evening.

Many of the gantries still stand!

This did work pretty well, but the arrival of the bus lane changed the approach.

Currently there is a peak hour lane from opposite Thirlwell Road (where the horse buses stood in the above picture) ...

... under the bridge and as far as the former station buildings (as per the above over-enlarged Streetview picture).

It ends just before the bridge over the river Sheaf.

But the City Council wants more! Probably the First and Stagecoach companies want more as well.

The scheme was to widen the road adjacent to the Sloan Medical Centre and provide another length of bus lane alongside the non bus bit of road.

That huge retaining wall, a relic of the old railway boundary, needs to be rebuilt after taking an entra nibble from the medical centre car park.

Here is the work in progress, looking north.

And here is just a snippet of the new wall plus its repositioned bus shelter.

And here are a couple of pictures of the disruption while the work was in progress.

"But we don't want to give you that," sats the City Council to the worthy residents of Heeley. "So we are going to 'improve' the bit just beyond the bridge over the river."

This involves shrinking the pavements over the bridge, building a footbridge where the traditional pseudo gas lamp stands and opening out the junction using a carefully cleared strip of land.

Here is the "cunning plan".

It will allow two lanes of traffic to continue a little further towards the Lowfield traffic lights. Note the red-coloured remnants of the former peak flow all-traffic lane.

fbb could not find out how much the "Sloan Centre" wall and associated works had cost, but the budget for the new junction is £3.9 million. OUCH!

The general view of the discerning public is the both schemes together will speed up the traffic at peak times ....

HOORAY!

... and deposit the hold-ups a few hundred yards further along the road.

BOO!

Assuming a spend of about £4 million on the first scheme, doubled with the addition of the second, could better results have been achieved by improving bus frequencies and reducing the fares? the debate will continue and be unresolved, of course.

But you do wonder whether the "commercial" model is the best to deliver a combination of the better bus services, cheaper fares, less pollution and less congestion.

The alternative policy works in many European cities and later next week we will pop over to Geneva after fbb reveals his full report on Monday's trip to Bristol.

Sadly, one casualty of modernity is the notable pub "The Bridge".

It is now "Greyspace Flooring" ...

... and will lose much of its wide pavement with the new scheme.

 Next Sunday Variety blog : 2nd September