Council to investigate growing congestion on A61

Council chiefs have announced the move today after congestion has grown significantly in recent years due to several new large scale housing developments to the south of Chesterfield.

In the past six months alone six separate large sites have started or continue to be built, including the major Avenue site (1,100 homes) and others next to it.

There are also commercial developments such as the Avenue and Egstow Park which will add to traffic issues.

Four diversion routes in place to avoid major Chesterfield road closure

Residents have their say on gridlocked A61 road in Chesterfield and Clay Cross

A council spokesman said: "Work started earlier this year on a traffic modelling survey at a cost of £135,000, and now we're set to commission an options review which will look at what measures can be taken to deal with the level of traffic now on the A61, and to cope with expected increasing volumes.

Council Leader, Councillor Barry Lewis, added:

“We’ve had a long-standing ambition to improve congestion on the A61 south of Chesterfield and are keen to see what could be done to improve the situation as soon as possible.

“There isn’t an easy solution to this but we would expect that the study would look at a range of measures, which taken together would all make a difference to congestion.

“If we don’t do anything then the situation will only get worse in the coming years."

It is expected that the study will be commissioned in December 2019, with results due back in the summer of 2020.