Work to ease congestion at one of Swansea's busiest junctions has started back up.
Swansea Council and its contractors are back at the Broadway Interchange to remodel the junctions of Vivian Road, Broadway, Cockett Road and Townhill Road, replacing the existing mini roundabouts with traffic lights.
Work started in January 2020, but came to a standstill as Wales went into lockdown because of coronavirus. Swansea Council said work will be carried out with social distancing.
At present, the junction is served by two mini-roundabouts. A third mini-roundabout exists a short distance away close to the entrance of Gower College.
On a normal day outside of lockdown, thousands of drivers use the interchange every day, and queues are common - particularly in rush hour along Cockett Road, Broadway onto Glanmor Road, and along Vivian Road.
Swansea Council previously said the mini-roundabouts are operating over capacity and struggling to cope with the number of vehicles at peak periods. It estimates waiting times could quadruple in the years ahead if changes are not made.
It is also hoped by the authority that it will increase capacity and safety, improve pedestrian crossings and access to the college and for pupils who walk to school.
Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure Management, said: “We started this important scheme earlier in the year, but because of the coronavirus restrictions, has been put on hold.
“Our contractors are working with us to ensure that social distancing can be maintained, allowing the scheme to get back up and running.
“The site is an important one in terms of traffic management and our new scheme will help to manage increases in traffic volumes in the coming years.
“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.”
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Additional improvements will also include a new signalled junction at the Tycoch Road and Glanmor Road junction which is currently managed with a mini roundabout.
Cllr Thomas added: “We will be onsite carrying out some overnight works to minimise disruption to traffic. Temporary traffic controls will be in place while this work is completed.”
