From today, Thursday 15th August, drivers travelling southbound on the A34 are banned from turning right at Monks Heath crossroads.
Cheshire East Council has made an Order prohibiting vehicles from turning right from the A34 Congleton Road onto the A537 Chelford Road, heading towards Knutsford. Instead drivers wishing to turn right must use Bollington Lane.
In December 2013, the A537 was reviewed as part of a Route Management Study (RMS) as requested by local ward members, parish councils and residents. Following analysis undertaken by Cheshire East Highways, a report was produced detailing a requirement to prohibit the right turn movement from A34 Congleton Road onto the A537 Chelford Road.
A spokesperson from Cheshire East Council said "The reasons for the prohibition of right turn are required due to the collision history at this particular junction. During the latest 5 year period, 2 slight collisions have been recorded as a result of the right turn movement heading south to west.
"As a result of the proposals put forward, a displacement of traffic from A34 Congleton Road onto Bollington Lane will occur and associated traffic signage supporting the proposed restriction will be implemented. However, this will be mitigated by improvements in the traffic signal timings at the junction of Bollington Lane/Congleton Road and at junction of Chelford Road/Bollington Lane to accommodate the increase in traffic flows.
"Comments from residents and other stakeholders have been received by Traffic & Road Safety team with regards to the proposal to prohibit the right turn movement at this junction. In summary, most residents and local ward members support the proposals as they stand and encourage/support for the work undertaken so far."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
1. Go straight ahead and then 'Turn Around when possible!' i.e. a U or 3 point turn. Then turn left towards Knutsford.
2. Turn Left and then 'Turn Around when possible!' i.e. a U or 3 point turn. Then go towards Knutsford.
3. Do a 3 point turn at the traffic light to get back on Bollington Lane.
4. Forget the sign and just turn Right, as 1, 2, 3 are just as dangerous.
I am a resident of Over Alderley, I regularly use that junction to travel to knutsford, first time I have heard of this proposal even though it seems done and dusted. Surely just changing the traffic lights to give time to turn right off Congleton road into Chelford road would be easier.
The actual problem here, from my own experience of a near miss, is drivers travelling North on the A34 jumping the lights.
The new solution will just create another problem in a different place.
This new modification is not the right answer, for reasons stated above by Ricky.
The junction is dangerous due to people jumping the lights from all directions and speeding up towards the lights in order to do so and making it extremely difficult for any pedestrians to cross any of the roads.
And as has been pointed out above, why would anyone want to use the longer route to Chelford via a right turn at Monks Heath lights rather than the shorter Bollington Lane cut-through?
Regarding motorists running red lights, there's a traffic light camera in place at Monks Heath that'll give them the nice present of a brown envelope through the door leading to points on their licence.
@ Derek Stevens - cars have steering, which tree? What do you propose that those folks who drive HGVs with large-vehicle Sat-Nav, which advises them to pass Bollington LANE due to that road's restricted width, do- carry on to Congleton and turn around?
Left lane: straight ahead and left turn.
Right lane: those very few folks who miss (for whatever reason) the Bollington LANE turning.
Cars have steering! good observation but tell that the the drivers who have hit the very large tree on the verge across from the left turn lane.To alter the the junction would mean removing the tree due to it's root spread - tell that to the tree huggers.
The folks who use Sat Nav should get them updated and I would advise all drivers to obey the road signs and pay attention to the road.Sat Navs, as I'm sure you are well aware, can get you in to all sorts of unfortunate situations- into rivers,farmer's fields, dead end streets etc.
Those folks who miss the correct turning should complaint to the highways department about the poor temporary signage to warn of the earlier right turn ahead (as I had pointed out in my previous comment) The new permanent signs clearly give correct direction to Chelford /Knutsford so just follow the signs
I always prefer to take the shortest route between two points - it saves fuel and wear and tear on the car. Where is the restricted width? HGV's use it all the time to avoid the tight turn around the cottage if coming from Chelford up to Alderley.
Have you actually driven around the area since the works were completed. I do twice aday at least!
Hardly the best use of the available road capacity, I'd have thought.
The Bollington Lane route was heavily-re-engineered with high-capacity junctions put in at each end at the time the Alderley bypass was built, precisely to handle traffic between Nether Alderley and Chelford and obviate the dangerous and congestion-causing right turn at Monks Heath. It also provides a shorter journey. What's not to like about that?
Turn down Bollington Lane then turn left towards Macclesfield and then left in to the forecourt. A safer manouvre that the two right turns in the middle of the road. Might be slightly longer but safer!