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Review underway into controversial "throughabout"

3:30pm Sunday 5th July 2009 in


A MAJOR junction in Darlington, completed just last year, has come under scrutiny following pressure from councillors and traders.

The "throughabout" at the Haughton Road end of the £14.4m Eastern Transport Corridor has became a cause of frustration for local businesses.

Darlington Borough Council is carrying out a review into the situation, but local traders and drivers are urging them to take action soon.

The throughabout works like a conventional roundabout, but also allows vehicles travelling straight on to go directly through the roundabout. The layout involves a traffic lights system, which drivers say is overly-complicated.

Councillor Bill Stenson has written to the council about the matter.

"I quite simply don't know why they put all those lights there," he said.

"I have received a number of complaints about it.

"Older residents using that stretch of road are having to get people to take them through because they are baffled by it.

"I don't think it's the traffic from the new road because there's hardly anyone using it.

"A big roundabout would solve a lot of problems, people are used to them and they know when it is their right of way."

The junction is also heavily used by businesses on the Albert Hill Industrial Estate.

Tim James, manager at Albert Hill Skip Hire, said because his firm ran wagons, they were not able to use the alternative route off the estate, to North Road, because of the railway bridge over Cleveland Street.

"It has impacted on us quite a lot," he added.

"It is constantly snarled up, our drivers are waiting to get out all the time. It is a 15 minute wait to get on or come off the estate.

"It especially affects people waiting for urgent orders, and especially at rush hour.

"It would be better off as a normal roundabout, everyone I've spoken to says the same thing."

A council spokeswoman said: "We have undertaken a traffic flow survey at the throughabout and the Vicarage Road junction and are currently reviewing the findings."

Comments(14)

SLeigh says...
9:31pm Sun 5 Jul 09

I can't wait for the review of the vicarage road lights - for someone who needs to turn right into the council depot and even the college it is a nightmare please listen to the people who use the roads to help save confussion.

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Sardonicus says...
9:59pm Sun 5 Jul 09

Hardly surprising is it, this episode?
Darlington is one of the most congested towns I have ever driven in - even outside of peak times. It has nothing to do with 'volume of traffic' (as commonly quoted) and everything to do with bad road management. Could this be part of the "Master Plan" to force us all out of our cars onto the non-existent public transport system? Local Motion - a bit of an oxymoron I think.

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gary123 says...
7:53am Mon 6 Jul 09

A lot of people complained when the thru-about was finished, it blatently doesnt work, and traffic from every direction ends up sat waiting.
Why dont they try putting bin bags over all the lights, and taping off the road running through the middle, to see how much better it would work.
The roundabout outside salters lane, next to st Andrews, is a great example of keep it simple. Works perfectly.

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Jolly Roger says...
9:55am Mon 6 Jul 09

We USED to come into Darlington alot but never now as you cannot get parked too many residents only parking driving others into car parks, Roads jamed up by cars going no where because of bad traffic management, the next thing is Darlington will become a ghost town as no one wants to go there.

So come on let the traffic go how it used to freely and also remember we have paid out road fund taxes so we should beable to go and park where we like.


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stuart arnold says...
12:55pm Mon 6 Jul 09

Tim James has it absolutely right. The exit from Albert Hill is a complete bottle neck at busy times, especially with all the industrial estate traffic that uses it. The same can be said for the Haughton end of the thru-about, traffic there regularly stacks up back to the Netto supermarket. Since the lights are in a cycle you have to wait for all the other lanes to 'go green' before you can move. And when you do the lights are only on green for a short period. It seems to me that whoever planned this design believed the Eastern Transport Corridor would carry a lot more vehicles in and out of the town than it actually does. But the fact is that it is relatively un-used compared to Haughton Road and the Albert Hill exit/entrance. The simple solution would be a return to a regular roundabout which would allow traffic to flow quicker and easier.

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JS2 says...
4:02pm Mon 6 Jul 09

Alan Milburn says he is proud to have campaigned for the Eastern corridor, I note there are signs to Lingfield Point where is new office is. And where is this lane where you can go straight on? Every lane I've come across leads to traffic lights. People who want to go east are avoiding this ill conceived traffic system and using North Rd (and going to the Salters Lane roundabout) making it even more congested than it already is. Middlesbrough council are doing the same thing no with the roundabout on the A66 next to the Riverside Stadium, they have now put on the traffic lights on all the time now even at quiet times. Why it's just a normal roundabout worked just as well without putting on the traffic lights. And for the person who commented they won't come to D'ton giving on reason as resident's parking. I wonder is he would like it if he came home and couldn't park outside his own home because someone was too tight to use a car park etc.

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stevegg says...
7:15pm Mon 6 Jul 09

Why have the council wasted more money on this survey when anyone with half a brain can see this road layout does not work. All Haughton road users said before the "Relief" road was built that this would not work and they have been proven right. The council on the other hand steamrollered this half baked scheme through more for their own egos than anything else. All thats happenned, as the road users thought before it was completed - except the well paid and so called highly educated highway planners, is that the congestion has been moved from the Skerne bridge Haughton road to Barton street and if anything the traffic is worse at peak times now than it was before. So where is the much talked about traffic relief to Haughton road? Its a joke! This throughabout should have been a normal roundabout and if the council insist on traffic lights - operating at peak times during weekdays only! Does it say anything when it was revealed that this was only the 2nd of its type in the country. Is that because every other council used common sense and saw it would not work? As previously mentioned the new road has virtually no traffic on it but the lights are on green for about 45 seconds. WHY??? All the congestion is on Haughton road/Barton street, they should have priority - and why are the vicarage road lights not synced with the throughabout? These lights should also only be used at peak times as you only ever see a few vehicles using it on green. Well done Darlo council for another bodge job with taxpayers money, you certainly know how to waste it but have no idea how to spend it wisely. At least the planners and councillors will have got a promotion and pay rise though. Next time I suggest the council listen to the road users and use something they do not appear to posess - common sense!

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dave427 says...
9:42am Tue 7 Jul 09

I believe the new road was meant to take traffic bound for the 66 away from Haughton village; its sad that so many drivers ignore that, still if the Council had made the junction a simple roundabout then perhaps these drivers would have realised its purpose instead of simply sitting at the lights fuming at the delay. There again maybe new roadsigns are needed to direct traffic that way for the 66 to give the villagers a chance to breathe while crossing the road!

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BMD says...
10:30am Tue 7 Jul 09

I would like to propose that the traffic lights are transferred to the Town Hall and set on constant red to prevent councilors and planners entering the building. This may eliminate any more excessive expenditure and delays to the council tax payer's of Darlington.

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paul.cook says...
11:14am Tue 7 Jul 09

I live along Haughton Road and as far as I'm concerned the new road has done as it planned and taken traffic off Haughton Road. I hope the new improvements along Haughton Road will have the same effect.

However, the roundabout is a vast overkill and I don't see the value for money in the project's final cost

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miketually says...
11:31am Tue 7 Jul 09

Whatever peoples' complaints, the new road has reduced the traffic on Haughton Road.

A hint for anyone sitting in the queue on Haughton road heading into town: go up McMullen road and use the new road as it's much quicker.

Something does need doing about the right turn into Vicarage Road though, as it's often traffic waiting there that backs up down Haughton road into town. This would be improved if people stopped nipping through on amber or red, or by the addition of a right turn signal and phase on the lights at peak times.

Anyone who can't understand how the throughabout works shouldn't be driving.

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DWilson says...
12:04pm Tue 7 Jul 09

Adding my tuppence worth here.
As a resident who lives just off Haughton Rd, I would say that a significant enough volume of traffic is using the new road. When I drive to work, I can almost always turn onto Haughtom Rd without a wait - something I could not do before. As I approach the lights to turn right into McMullen Road, I am behind less traffic and waiting for the lights to go through more than one cycle is a thing of the past. Yes there are the new lights where McMullen meets the ETC to contend with but this has never inconvenienced me.
I will agree however that the whole throughabout concept has failed (as most expected it would) and that a simple, "normal" roundabout would do the job much better. I have lost count of the number of times people jump red at the Haughton Road slip because they look at the lights in front (on roundabout just before Barton St traffic meets it) and they change to Red/Amber a few seconds before. Also at peak times it does back up to Netto.
I think the signage on the A66 needs chaging from temp yellow signs ASAP and "Local Traffic Only/A1M North/Sedgefield" added to mark that exit on the roundabout sign on A66 - perhaps even try for single lane all the way from roundabout with a slip lane only for traffic turning right towards Sedgefield

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Super steve says...
1:13pm Tue 7 Jul 09

Sardonicus wrote:
Hardly surprising is it, this episode? Darlington is one of the most congested towns I have ever driven in - even outside of peak times. It has nothing to do with 'volume of traffic' (as commonly quoted) and everything to do with bad road management. Could this be part of the "Master Plan" to force us all out of our cars onto the non-existent public transport system? Local Motion - a bit of an oxymoron I think.
Its similar to Stockton, they build ring roads and by passes then desynchronise the traffic lights to make traffic movement as difficult as possible.
Harrowgate lane, miles long 30 MPH and loads of lights, A177 was a good dual carriage way Stockton singled it to restrict traffic, the ring road from the A19 right through to Hartburn designed to allow the swift passage of traffic, now a stop start nightmare of 30 mph if you are lucky. Pedestriam safety is the hollow excuse muted by SBC but if you sit and watch you see that most pedestrians simply ignore the ever growing numbers of lights.It is their policy to slow traffic down or to try and push motorists onto the poor and unsafe public transport system. They just dont realise they are driving commerce away from the areas that why both Darlo and Stocktob town centres look like they have been turned into props for a zombie movie.

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MrMorden says...
1:23pm Tue 7 Jul 09

Dear Darlo Council:

1) Change through jobby into a roundabout.

2) Remove pointless paving stones at junction of Yarm Rd and put back the original 3rd lane on the roudabout.

3) Remove chevrons from rounabout behind M&S and put back to its original 3rd lane.

4) Make rd from McMullen juntion to bypass 50mph not 40.

5) NOW APOLOGISE for being INCOMPENTENT.

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