Sheffield traffic: New plan to help drivers avoid Arundel Gate 'bus gate' that raked in £2m in eight months

A roundabout will be installed to make it easier for drivers to avoid a bus gate restriction which raked in almost £2m in eight months for Sheffield City Council.

Documents show plans for a new junction outside the Novotel Hotel on Arundel Gate where 62,233 motorists were caught between June and February, earning the authority £1,963,692.

A report states: "We will install a roundabout outside the Novotel Hotel to provide an easier route back from the bus gate between Arundel Gate and Norfolk Street for traffic that can’t pass through."

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Currently drivers who want to avoid a £70 penalty have to turn left into a mini-roundabout near the hotel before turning right back across Arundel Gate.

In March, The Star revealed how a Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator cancelled Adele Fleming’s fine stating the sign indicating how to turn around was obscured, badly positioned and contradicted by a ‘no U-turn’ instruction nearby.

Four additional large, red warnings were installed in October. But in November 4,285 drivers entered the bus gate and were fined, followed by 4,124 in December, 2,514 in January  and 3,025 in February, raising a total of £393,235, city council figures show.

Earlier this month The Star saw seven drivers entering the bus gate in half-an-hour.

The new roundabout is detailed in the council’s Connecting Sheffield plan to improve bus, pedestrian and cycle routes in the city centre.