UPDATE: |Salford’s ‘dangerous’ junction where children ‘weave through traffic’ News

Residents raised safety issues during a public meeting.

There are calls for changes at a busy Salford junction where families and children are forced to ‘weave through traffic’ to cross the road.

More than 30 residents attended a meeting at Salford Civic Centre on April 7 about problems at the junction of Bury Old Road and Singleton Road, saying there are huge amounts of traffic in the mornings and evenings.

The road is a key route for cars travelling between Prestwich and Manchester city centre, and those driving into other parts of Salford.

But some claimed the traffic issue has left them unable to get off their own driveways at times, with others warning that there are no safe places for pedestrians to get across the road.

Salford council officers said they are looking at ways to improve the junction, including the possibility of a new signal controlled crossing.

“It’s one of the few junctions in the city that does not have appropriate pedestrian facilities and it does create a lot of congestion,” Shoaib Mohammad, Salford council’s director of infrastructure, said.

He added: “There’s no pedestrian facility and there’s a huge amount of pedestrians crossing this every time, cyclists and prams, it’s a constant flaw.

“I’ve witnessed buggies and prams weaving through traffic, it’s a dangerous situation.”

Mr Mohammad said there was a ‘severe’ accident on the road in February last year, where a child on a bike was hit by a car trying to get through the junction.

But some residents at the meeting raised concerns about putting in new traffic lights, claiming it can take up to 15 minutes to get through the queue of cars on Singleton Road at busy times.

One said: “The issue of traffic covers approximately one to one and a half hours a day from Monday to Thursday, traffic lights will obstruct traffic and slow down travel for the rest of the day, which will be very annoying, and locals are extremely keen to avoid this.”

Another added: “There are three or four houses right by [the junction], that’s going to be a nightmare. When there were temporary lights it was impossible to get out of our driveways.”

The council’s highways engineer conceded that traffic lights would “not get rid of the queues overnight,” but he explained that it would allow cars to use the junction safely, and make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road.

The town hall’s director of infrastructure said that the council is hoping to move forward with plans to improve the junction, with the aim of making changes next spring after exploring all options.

The meeting was organised by Kersal and Broughton Park Coun Andrew Walters.