I had the delights of the Birdwell "lets confuse the motorists" scheme on Saturday.

Wow, and I mean BIG WOW !!!
That is one hell of a very big f.uck up, isn't it.
I remember when there was a roundabout and a junction. Who on earth dreamed up this mess and how the hell are you supposed to find your way round it. I wanted to go to Hemingfield and I think I ended up in Grenoside.
Why ????????

 

Oh for the days of hand signals and handlebar moustaches! It’s a modern junction designed to cope with much more traffic. Follow the signs and it’s a doddle.
Now if you want a **** up talk Cundy Cross.

 

I just follow the signs and lane markings. It's not that bad once you've done it a couple of times.

 

Agreed. It's quite a nice junction really. Very simple lanes and signs.

 

Done that junction a few times, simple, just concentrate.

 

It works. It has eased congestion. That's why.

Cundy Cross on the other hand is an abomination. The roundabout worked, traffic kept flowing, the lights don't.

 

I've done Cundy Cross a couple of times, on match days, and i don't see the point of it. I remember the little roundabout which more or less kept traffic flowing but now all I see is hold ups just for the sake of it, letting one lane out at a time.
Was the old roundabout dangerous or did somebody just need to justify their job?
The Birdwell one is a nightmare for first time users.

 

Birdwell works if you actually know where you're going. My father in law (not local) came off at 36 to head for Wombwell. In the absence of signage for it, as it is a borough of Barnsley, he followed Barnsley signs. He had no idea he needed the A6195 to Doncaster and at no point was it indicated that traffic for Wombwell, Hemingfield and Jump should head that way. So I'd say room for improved clarity but it has definitely helped traffic flow.

Cundy Cross wasn't without its problems. The roundabout diameter was small, given the volume of traffic involved. Also, as you head to Lundwood, there is a right turn almost immediately after Don Pepe's pizza shop. Anyone turning right at a busy time gridlocked everything. The new junction has solved neither of these issues and added some new ones for good measure. In fairness, shy of relocating Don Pepe and knocking the building down, to allow a larger roundabout with the road alongside being given its own exit, I can't see what they could do. Except leave it alone, of course, which would have been better than what we've got.

 

I personally like the Birdwell junction, I think it’s made things better. As an above poster said the Aldi’s a nightmare, why there’s no feeder lane for it is beyond me.

The most dangerous one is the next junction up at Dodworth where many people still don’t understand how to follow the lanes a couple of years after it was changed & regularly cut others up.

If your headed Silkstone, Penistone or Manchester way over Woodhead you go in the right lane at the Barnsley side of the junction & move into the middle after the motorway slip road. You certainly don’t go in the left lane & then cut into the middle lane without indicating

 

Indicating is a bygone art form, shocking how many don't know how or can't be bothered, shocking.

 

Stairfoot roundabout is the daddy.

 

It’s easy first lane is for dearne valley parkway and hiyland chapletown
Second Kane is for m1s and a61 towards Sheffield
Third lane is for m1n and a61 towards Sheffield and a61 back towards town
But it isn’t done in the best way by our council everyday I’m up there there is always somebody drifting across the lanes

 

The single biggest problem is people approaching from Birdwell who want to go to Chapeltown/Hoyland Common on A6135, who wrongly get in the middle lane then cut across. The ADS and road markings clearly indicate the left lane. The middle lane is for the M1 south.

 

The signs thing is a real issue all over the country. You approach busy roundabouts and junctions unsure of which lane to be in. Then when you get close enough for the sign or the road markings it's often too late. Which of course leads to people trying to change lanes when it's really too late to do so.

 

If you can get to the Fairway/Koyo from Dodworth High Street and negotiate the jct near the library unscathed you're doing well.(with apologies to JLWBL)

 

Two lanes don't go to Birdwell from grenoside do they? I thought it was one

 

Only issue I’ve seen is where the 3 lanes go into 2 as you approach the M1 south ramp. I’ve seen numerous near misses there.

 

The problem with this is that the signs aren't easily seen. One is hidden behind the houses and the other is in the wrong side of the road well before you see the roundabout so you don't notice it.

 

It's a sh.t system but it's ok if everyone is in the right lane. The Cundy Cross shambles however is an abomination - not difficult to navigate just a complete f*** up. The roundabout worked just fine.