Changes to a junction in Lichfield will help improve the flow of traffic through a key city centre route.
Work is set to begin on the Greenhill and Rotten Row traffic lights to allow for what a council official described as “significant alterations”.
The changes – which will take until the end of June to complete – will see alterations to the pedestrian crossing patterns to allow some traffic to continue moving.
In a letter to Lichfield City Council, a Staffordshire County Council engineer said the introduction of a pedestrian ‘sheep pen’ would help to cut down on queues across the entire junction.
“Currently, in order for pedestrians to cross the carriageway the entire junction is stopped on a red light to allow for pedestrians to cross in a single movement,” the letter explained.
“On some of the legs of the junction it is necessary to cross a 13-15metre wide carriageway which can require the signals to remain on red for up to 13 seconds – the upper most limit for a crossing to function.
“The proposed arrangement will mean that some legs of the junction will still be able to operate while pedestrians are crossing and, with the greatly reduced width, the holding time on the red light will also be greatly reduced.
“It will also mean that for some pedestrians there may not be a need to call at a signal at all, allowing for less intervention and maintaining the traffic flow.”
The work is being carried out ahead of the Friarsgate development and will also see some minor changes the St John Street and A5127 junction near Lichfield City station.
The letter added: “As part of the redevelopment of the old garage site on St John Street and the proposed alterations to the area around Frog Lane and the bus station, an extensive study was carried out on the current capacity of the A5127 Birmingham Road and the implications that this redevelopment would have on movements.
“The result of this has been a re-adjustment to the southern kerb line at the St John Street junction which will increase capacity at this intersection, allowing freer movements for left turn only manoeuvres.”
The changes will be discussed at a meeting of Lichfield City Council’s planning committee on May 3.
