03/19/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

TRAFFIC light alterations at a busy junction of Swansea’s Mumbles Road haven’t made queues worse, a senior councillor has said.
Swansea Council has installed a pedestrian crossing in Mayals – at the Mumbles Road-Mayals Road junction – as part of a new cycle route.
Drivers heading towards the city centre on Mumbles Road have always had to stop when vehicles coming the other way turn right onto Mayals Road, but councillors Will Thomas and Lyndon Jones said they’d had several complaints from people saying the junction was now causing longer queues.
On some days traffic starts crawling back at the Fairwood Road junction in West Cross.
Cllr Thomas and Cllr Jones have written to Cllr Mark Thomas, whose cabinet portfolio includes roads, to ask if he’d received similar complaints and also whether the authority was looking into a solution.
Cllr Thomas said the lights at the junction have been designed to cause minimal interference with traffic flows and that they working correctly.
The signal system, he said, constantly monitored flow rates and allocated “green” time where it was needed most.
Cllr Thomas said the issue was that Mumbles Road was single carriageway and therefore could only accommodate a certain number of free-moving vehicles.
The traffic signals, he said, weren’t the cause of queueing when the road was busy.
“This queueing is due to the bunching effect of stopping vehicles which then run closer together, maximising efficiency,” said Cllr Thomas.
“Additional green time results in longer gaps between vehicles and as such will not result in a noticeable difference in the length of the queue.”
Queues may lessen on Mumbles Road and throughout Swansea during part of the week between July 30 and August 30 when the council introduces free bus travel on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.

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