New bus gate to be built in city centre

A new bus gate is to be opened in Sheffield city centre in a bid to make services more reliable for people travelling into and around the city, the council has said.

The new measures on Furnival Gate, near the top of Matilda Way, are part of the Connecting Sheffield programme and will come into place in September.

While the gate was designed to make bus journeys smoother, there was expected to be disruption in the run-up to its opening due to the construction of a traffic island, according to a Sheffield City Council spokesperson.

Residents and businesses in the area would receive information about the changes ahead of the bus gates becoming operational, they added.

The new bus gate would become operational on 19 September, while an existing bus gate, on the opposite side of Furnival Gate, at the bottom of Pinstone Street would also come back into operation, the council said.

Drivers entering the new bus gate would be issued with a warning for their first offence in the first six months of it becoming operational.

However, that rule would not apply to the existing bus gate when it became operational once again, the spokesperson said.

The introduction of these new measures mean that routes to car parks from Park Square via Arundel Gate then Charter Row, Moore Street or Rockingham Street – including Atkinsons and the Wellington Street NCP - will change.

Drivers will now need to access Charter Row from the Inner Ring Road at Moore Street roundabout.

Construction has started and will continue until the end of August to build a traffic island at the top of Matilda Way, according to the council.

During this period, one of the bus stops on Moorhead will be temporarily suspended, with services moving to the neighbouring stop.

Once operational, the bus gates would allow buses, taxis, cycles and authorised vehicles to continue using Furnival Gate, helping to reduce unnecessary through-traffic and support a cleaner, greener city centre, Sheffield City Council said.

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