Going to the other side ... of town

It's not often I'm around the Sheffield Road / Doncaster Road end of Barnsley but the twice in the last couple of weeks, it's been incredibility difficult to get where your going.

Today, getting off bus at Alhambra roundabout it's almost impossible to cross Sheffield Road at lights without walking out of your way. When you do get across, it was almost impossible to cross Doncaster Road (admittedly I should have crossed at the top of Taylor Row). Then there is Pontefract Road to deal with too.

More importantly, how the hell, do you get to the bus/train station when the Alhambra is closed without walking 18 miles out of the way to the Morrisions crossing, or going back to Oakwell and down Oakwell lane? This needs to be looked at by town planners surely? Along with some of the shops on the end of Sheffield Road.

I'd argue the latter point is more important than the bridge.

 

Go round the top of the Alhambra and go down past Pinnochios - I did it to get to the game on Tuesday - two minutes extra tops...

 

This was on the original plans for the new town centre development but unfortunately short sightedness on the part of the developers meant that it was canned.

 

Not exactly the case. They identified that the Alhambra and Metropolitan Centre cut off access at that side, and suggested it would be beneficial to address that in the initial ‘Better Barnsley’ plans, however, that was before actual plans for The Glassworks were drawn up. Discussions with potential anchor tenants meant more parking spaces had to be provided to get them to sign up to the scheme, so a multi-storey car park was added to the Glassworks (which wasn’t part of the Better Barnsley plans), and limitations with where the new car park could be positioned meant that it had to go where it is - the place where the ‘Better Barnsley’ plans intended to address the access issue.

The Glassworks ‘solution’ was to ensure pedestrian access would still be provided on that side, and indeed a pedestrian entry was created next to the Sports Direct unit, however, the council have decided to stick shutters on it and close them in the evening which makes it pretty pointless.

 

They could easily make a cycle/walkway adjacent to the railway line, but no, make everyone go the long way round. Unfortunately car is still king in Barnsley and all the walking / cycling stuff is just rhetoric.

 

That’s adjacent to the service road and service yard for The Glassworks and once the bridge is built there’ll be nowhere on the other end for pedestrians to go. It’s also hardly an ideal place for pedestrians when there’s a constant stream of cars and trucks. Admittedly, a smaller pedestrian bridge over the railway at the back of the Alhambra/Glassworks accessed via Wesley Street could take pedestrians into Market Gate car park and over to the interchange through there, but a cheaper (and simpler) solution would be to just not close the shutters on the pedestrian route they created. Alternatively, a full and proper pavement on the A61 from the Alhambra Roundabout to the slip road would suffice.

Just trying to explain that there are other factors as to why design decisions were made. As others have pointed out, using the crossing near the subway and walking around the Wilko end of the Alhambra isn’t really much of a detour for most people.

 

In fairness, it depends where you've come from. I almost got lost last week expecting to be able to get around the side of the Alhambra and through the market.

At least next time, I know to go down New Street.

 

If that were possible, it would be the best option (but just seen the post below explaining why it's not)

 

I don't really see why two of these three options can't be done. A small bridge would be cheap, and wouldn't take the hammer that the current temporary bridge takes. (Unless there's a problem with match day pedestrians going that way, but if there is, it proves a solution is needed).

Speaking of bridges anyone know why the rail and bus station bridges were open post match today?
Makes sense to have it open when we have small crowds, but it was closed after the Freight Rover Sherpa Pizza Trophy (there were 2 fans and a dog there) so I didn't think the actual crowd numbers would make any difference to decisions.

 

That’s why it’s annoying as you can go that way during the day, but it’s pretty pointless doing that if you’re coming from Sheffield Road/ Doncaster Road and the Alhambra is open. That entrance/exit is only really useful if you’re walking to/from town via Lambra Road, and not many people walk into town that way.

Remove the shutters and it would provide an alternative pedestrian route into town when the Alhambra is closed.