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Major changes to Pinstone Street to encourage active travel in city centre

Pinstone Street will be closed to traffic in the next fortnight as Sheffield City Council implements a variety of measures across the city to ensure safe social distancing and encourage walking and cycling.


Footpath widening has already been introduced in many areas across the city to make it as safe as possible for people to travel on foot as we move into the next stages of lockdown. This next phase of works will see the introduction of road closures and cycle lanes, designed to provide the infrastructure needed to encourage people to make significant changes to how they get around the city.


A central part of the project is Pinstone Street in the city centre, where footpaths will be widened between Cross Burgess Street and Furnival Gate to support social distancing in a core part of the city centre. This will also include the full closure of Pinstone Street past the Peace Gardens to all traffic expect pedestrians and cyclists. These measures will initially be put in place using temporary barriers, but will soon be replaced with a step-free pavement.


Bus routes on this street will be diverted. Vehicle access from Furnival Gate into Pinstone Street (northbound) will remain open to ensure that the construction of key Heart of the City regeneration sites, and deliveries, can continue.


As part of the Pinstone Street scheme, a complementary road closure of Upper Charles Street will also be introduced. This will provide widened footpaths, cycle link, and the possibility for outside seating areas.


Division Street will also be partly pedestrianised from Westfield Terrace to Rockingham Street (between the Frog and Parrot and the Great Gatsby.) This will be implemented over the Bank Holiday weekend.


As temporary cycle lanes are introduced in the city centre, an initial additional 50 cycle spaces will also be created.


In addition to the Shalesmoor Cycle link, which will provide a fully segregated cycle path between Shalesmoor Roundabout and Corporation St,  additional road closures will be implemented in Kelham to create a low traffic neighbourhood. All routes will still be open for people to walk and cycle to promote active travel in the Kelham and Neepsend Community.


Outside of the city centre, changes to support social distancing, such as footpath widening, will also be introduced in communities across Sheffield, include Gleadless Town End, Manor Top, Frecheville, Chapeltown, Stocksbridge, Darnall, Hillsborough and Crookes.


Councillor Bob Johnson, Cabinet Member for Transport and Sustainability at Sheffield City Council, said:


“It’s been great to see people already using the widened footpaths we’ve recently put in place to help everyone stay safe whilst walking in their neighbourhoods. We’re now going even further and introducing new road closures and cycle lanes that will give people the opportunity to try out a new way of travelling around our city as we move into new phases of lockdown and help to make sure that social distancing is maintained. “We’re incredibly ambitious about encouraging Sheffielders to make lasting changes in their daily lives following this experience that will improve their health and wellbeing going forward, as well as helping to create a safer, cleaner city. “We will  of course continue to monitor and review these measures regularly so we can make adjustments as necessary. “Please do try out the new measures in your area and if you can think of  any further locations you think could benefit from pop-up active travel infrastructure, you can suggest these on Sheffield City Region’s interactive travel map.”


Dame Sarah Storey, Active Travel Comissoner at Sheffield City Region, said:


"I am really pleased to see Sheffield are adding to the initial schemes announced with these extra measures. Closing roads and pedestrianising parts of the city centre along with increased capacity for bike parking is vital as more businesses start to re-open and people return to the city centre.


“I'm also delighted to see accelerated implementation for Kelham Island as the first of what I hope will be many low traffic neighbourhoods. These create an environment for people to walk and cycle locally with less reliance on vehicle use for short journeys.


“Our key priority is to promote walking for journeys up to 2km and cycling for journeys up to 5km to ease the burdenon public transport, and boost everyone’s health."