Council verdict on temporary one-way system on Thorpe Road

Since we reported this week that Severn Trent needs to continue its repair work on a collapsed sewer into the middle of January many readers put forward the idea of making the area one-way so drivers could negotiate the side roads off Thorpe Road without the added conflict of passing oncoming motorists.

But County Hall say it is not practical to bring in a one-way system and it is happy with the way LED signage is directing drivers to use the Scalford Road/Melton Road and Melton Spinney Road and with HGV traffic being diverted via signposts to use the A606, A1 and A607, during the period of the closure.

A spokeswoman for Leicestershire County Council told the Melton Times this afternoon (Tuesday): “We would not want to encourage more traffic to use residential roads, as that would have an adverse impact on people living in those streets, particularly during the holiday period.

“Creating a one-way system to divert traffic during roadworks requires careful planning and consideration to ensure it is safe and does not have a detrimental impact on the roads which are used.

“Before a decision can be made to make a road one-way, even temporarily, an assessment of the width of the road and likely traffic volumes needs to be made.

"Parking on both sides of roads needs to be considered, and if there is parking on both sides of the road, it would not be popular to reduce this, especially during a holiday period when residential parking is at a premium for families and visitors.

“One-way systems also raise the average speed of traffic, because drivers negotiating roads with unopposed traffic often find themselves increasing their speed.

"This is not something we would want to propose or encourage.”

Severn Trent has apologised to motorists and residents for the inconvenience caused by Thorpe Road’s closure.

It says the work is complicated by the affected sewer’s proximity to other services in the area of the collapse.