Major traffic improvements aimed at easing congestion at a traffic bottleneck in Swansea are set to get underway later this year.
Swansea Council has secured funding via the Welsh Government Local Transport Network Fund to introduce the changes at the junction where Vivian Road, Broadway, Cockett Road and Townhill Road connect.
Traffic engineers in the council have estimated that waiting times at the junction could quadruple in future years if changes are not implemented.
The scheme will see traffic signals replace two mini roundabouts which are currently in place.
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Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure Management, said: “At peak times, this junction becomes very busy and congested.
“With high levels of vehicles using it, including public transport, we have looked at an improved design of the interchange, which will ease congestion, increase vehicle capacity through the junction and also speed up public transport journey times.
“The traffic modelling carried out by our engineers suggests that if we do not make changes now motorists will experience waiting times around four times longer than they currently do and this is something motorists will not accept in the future.”
Additional improvements will also include a new signalled junction at the Tycoch Road/Glanmor Road junction which is currently managed with a mini roundabout.
The work is expected to take approximately 24 weeks to be completed and will start later this year. Councillor Thomas added “The route we are improving is a main route for people travelling north and south of the city.
“The route serves a number of major destinations such as the university, Singleton Hospital, Gower College, as well as many local businesses.
“Our recently adopted Local Development Plan also means that future development proposals require improvements in our highway network.
“I’m confident regular users of this interchange will welcome the planned changes having already experienced long queuing times on roads nearby.”
