HIGH levels of traffic continue to affect an area of Cardiff weeks into further roadworks aimed at improving pedestrian safety.
Sanatorium Road southbound, from its junction with Lansdowne Road, will continue to be closed until December 20 and further works are expected in the area until March, 2024.
The roadworks are part of the council’s active travel project for Canton and involve widening and resurfacing footways, the reconfiguring of junctions and new crossings.
As part of the scheme, Grosvenor Street will be permanently one way for northbound traffic and only cyclists will be able to go southbound on the road.
Cardiff Council ward member for the area, Cllr Stephen Cunnah, said he received complaints and queries on a daily basis relating to issues around traffic, parking, dangerous driving and road safety.
He said: “At the moment, I think it is clearly a bit of a pinch point… there are roadworks going on there so it is a one way system at the moment.
“Some traffic is being diverted.
“It is not the first time that there has been congestion.”
Cardiff Council installed three new crossings along Leckwith Road in order to improve the safety of children walking to school in the area.
Some drivers and residents said that traffic built up along the road during peak hours, particularly school pick-up and drop-off times.
When the issue was reported, the local authority said that when some parents who chose to park at the nearby Lidl left the supermarket, a pinch point was created.
The council said that daily monitoring would occur in relation to the roadworks taking place in Canton over the coming months and that adjustments to traffic lights on Atlas Road and Broad Street would be made to alleviate congestion.
Cllr Cunnah, who is also a policy and external affairs manager at Sustrans, said he had received a number of complaints about the safety of Sanatorium Road since he became a councillor six years ago.
He added: “I have met with senior managers, we had temporary improvements put in during the pandemic… where we were able to extend the pavement… to make it a bit safer.
“Before that, there was literally one section of pavement with a BT network box which was barely a metre wide for hundreds of people on scooters and [with] prams.
“They couldn’t even fit on the pavement. It was just unacceptable.”
The other key dates for highways changes in the area include:
- Temporary traffic lights on the Lansdowne Road junction with Sanatorium Road and Grosvenor Street from 9.30am on January 4, 2024, until March 22, 2024
- Temporary traffic lights on the Sanatorium Road junction with Broad Street from 9.30am on January 5, 2024, until March 22, 2024
Cllr Cunnah said: “That work, although I recognise that it is disruptive for residents while it is ongoing, it is a relatively short period and… the road will open again as before.
“When it does, the pavements, the crossing points, the shortcuts… it will all be safer and better for the whole community.”
There will be a break in works over the Christmas period. This will take place from December 20 to January 4.
