A MULTI-MILLION pound scheme to reduce congestion on a major route into Barnsley town centre is set to begin next year - with the construction of a new gyratory system.

The stretch of the A628 which runs from Town End roundabout to junction 37 of the M1 will receive a raft of remedial work which will see a part of the Penny Pie Park go to make way for the new one-way gyratory.

It will see traffic from the motorway towards the town centre diverted around the new road system from the Broadway traffic lights, with vehicles coming out of town using the existing but improved Dodworth Road, which is being made one-way on a four-lane section past Horizon Community College.

The traffic lights will remain, but there will be a new road built to bypass a section of Pogmoor Road and no right turn onto Broadway to traffic from the motorway, with motorists having to go around a gyratory and back up Dodworth Road.

Funding for the £4.3m scheme, which is expected to start in April 2019 and take a year to complete, will be jointly covered by the council, which has re-prioritised its highways department’s expenditure programme to enable the work, and Sheffield City Region’s investment fund which has provided £2.7m towards the project.

Council research has been carried out which showed it took an average of ten minutes for vehicles to get from the M1 to town centre in 2000 at peak times - a journey time that’s more than doubled to 26 minutes in 2018.

Ian Wilson, group manager for design and transportation at the council, said: “It’s a significant scheme in a location that we’re aware has struggled with congestion for years.

“We’ve considered more than 35 options about how we can best deal with the issue and the one we have settled on has the best benefits.

“We did not want to come up with a short-term solution, one which we would have to revisit in a few years’ time, so the finalised proposal includes factors beyond the Local Plan (the council’s blueprint for future housing and business growth) which goes up to 2033.”

Leaders behind the project told the Chronicle on Wednesday that a range of options had been looked at - including the removal of housing and the construction of a park-and-ride in Dodworth - before the final decision was discussed behind closed doors by cabinet members this week.

Penny Pie Park’s play area, multi-use games facility and outdoor gym will be relocated as the scheme will mean part of the six-hectare site will be lost.

However, a public consultation on what residents would like to see on the remaining greenspace will take place, with the council expecting to gather views as soon as September.

Rachael Allington, group leader for the council’s major projects team, said: “Over time, both the population of the borough and levels of car ownership have increased, meaning that capacity of the road, particularly at peak times, has declined.

“In response to this, in 2006 the Dodworth bypass was constructed to the west of the M1 and in 2015 improvements were carried out to the junction 37 roundabout.

“The section of Dodworth Road that has proven more difficult to address has been the crossroad junction with Broadway and Pogmoor Road.

“The council is investing substantial amounts into regenerating the town centre, but for the benefits to be fully realised it will be important to ensure that key routes into and out of the town centre remain free-flowing, particularly during peak times.

“Having been agreed by cabinet members, the council will put in a planning application and consult with the public about what they would like to see at Penny Pie Park before putting the scheme out to tender.”

As well as reducing traffic, improving air quality plays a key role in the plan. The commuter belt was designated as an air quality management area in 2005 and although ‘significant improvements’ have been made, it’s thought the current rate of congestion will jeopardise progress if action is not taken.

Coun Roy Miller, cabinet spokesman, added: “We need to make it easier for people to get in and out of Barnsley from the M1 at junction 37. Better roads will improve travel times for local residents and encourage more businesses to invest in Barnsley.

“For some time we’ve been exploring options to ease existing congestion and improve air quality along Dodworth Road. A long-term solution is needed to provide enough capacity for the current volume of traffic and prevent queuing on the M1, as well as accommodating the future business and housing growth aspirations of the borough.”