Mansfield Mayor urges county council to tackle A60 'gridlock'

Mansfield's Mayor Kate Allsop is appealing for work to be done at a 'congested junction' in town.
Kate Allsop 
We understand that further work is scheduled, but we are urging the county council to do this as a matter of urgency."Kate Allsop 
We understand that further work is scheduled, but we are urging the county council to do this as a matter of urgency."
Kate Allsop We understand that further work is scheduled, but we are urging the county council to do this as a matter of urgency."

A spokeswoman at Mansfield District council said the mayor and other councillors went to "see for themselves some of the issues caused by traffic congestion at the junction of the A60 Nottingham Road and Park Lane, which provides access to Mansfield Leisure Park.

"At certain times of the day the area becomes gridlocked, with traffic stopping across the junction, blocking movement in all directions."Mayor Allsop and members of the Independent Group in Mansfield have been liaising with Nottinghamshire County Council to 'urge them to address the highways issues in Mansfield'. Mayor Allsop said: “We have listened to the concerns raised by our residents and are aware of their frustrations. I am told regularly how long it can take to turn into or out of Park Lane at peak times. If traffic remains a problem, people could avoid the area. We don’t want people to by-pass our town, we want Mansfield to be a destination of choice, a great place to visit and shop and enjoy leisure time.”

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The county council has said it takes the "issue seriously" and reveal that some initial work has been carried out and further work to review the phasing of traffic signals is still to be undertaken.

The first intervention will be live by the end of March. Mayor Allsop added: “We understand that further work is scheduled, but we are urging the county council to do this as a matter of urgency. Having good traffic and transport links makes it easier to get around, and helps to make an area more attractive to visitors and investors. These are important considerations if Mansfield is to continue to thrive and attract businesses and visitors.”

Councillor Gordon Wheeler, Vice Chairman of the communities and place committee at the county council said: “We are aware of local concerns about congestion at this A60 junction and have been working closely with Mansfield District Council on this important local issue.

“We have taken this issue seriously as the A60 is a vital road on our county’s network. We have had meetings with the local MP Ben Bradley and the Transport minister, Chris Grayling, during his recent visit to the area.

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“Via East Midlands, which manages the County Council’s highways network, has started initial work to upgrade the traffic signals at the junction to improve their performance. This £50,000 scheme involves installing a new CCTV camera so that queues can be monitored and timings altered remotely if required from our Traffic Control Centre. The initial groundwork has already taken place, with the main work due to start next month lasting two weeks. The improvements are expected to be complete by the end of March.

“These upgraded signals will then be fully reviewed to ensure that they are effectively co-ordinated with nearby sets of signals.“We will also be looking into the different design options available to see what can be done to try and improve the situation in the longer-term.”