Road to close as work to cut congestion begins

Image source, Google

Image caption, Three lanes will become five at Old Mill Lane bridge
  • Author, Danielle Andrews
  • Role, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Old Mill Lane, a main route in and out of Barnsley town centre, is being altered to cut congestion.

The road will be closed聽from Harborough Hill Road to Old Tannery Road on Sunday between 19:00 BST and 06:00 BST the following day.

The closure comes ahead of 10 weeks of work to widen the road to create five lanes instead of the current three.

The project will "encourage new retail and town centre development鈥 by making it easier to get in and out of town, the council said.

Matt O鈥橬eill, executive director for growth and sustainability at Barnsley Council, said: 鈥淭he improvements offered by SYMCA鈥檚 (South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority) work at Old Mill Lane will provide a great benefit to our residents and the surrounding businesses as we look to tackle the long-term congestion problems that affect the area."

He said with it being such a "vital route" they appreciated the initial road and lane closures would cause some disruption.

鈥淔urther updates will follow as the work progresses and the changes take shape throughout the year," he added.

A cycle and pedestrian path on either side of the carriageway will also be created, and the bridge over the River Dearne will be widened by approximately 23 feet (7m) to accommodate the additional lanes.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a planning report stated the scheme was needed because the stretch suffers from聽聽鈥渃ongestion, significant delay and journey time variation for buses and general traffic鈥.

Follow 大象传媒 Yorkshire on聽,听听补苍诲听. Send your story ideas to聽yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.