Traffic signal change being tested at busy crossroads

A busy traffic junction in Wirral is set to see a subtle, but significant change this week designed to make it safer for all road users.

The Spital crossroads – where Church Road, Poulton Road, Brimstage Road and Spital Road meet near the Three Stags pub – has been the scene of a number of serious road traffic collisions in recent years and relatives of people who have been killed or injured in these collisions have led a campaign for the junction to be made safer.

Their efforts led to Wirral Council resolving to invest more than £500,000 on improvements to the junction in the coming years. 

Detailed design work on these improvements is still ongoing, but in the meantime, highways officials in Wirral have launched a trial alteration from today (April 23rd) to the traffic light signals at the junction to assess its impact on safety and traffic flow at the junction.

At the same time as investing in new software technology to control the traffic signals at Spital crossroads, the council is reconfiguring the lights for vehicles entering the junction from either Church Road or Poulton Road. 

Instead of the lights controlling traffic on both sides of the road at the same time, meaning vehicles turning right have to give way to oncoming traffic, the signals will be separated so that when the lights are green in one direction between Church Road and Poulton Road, they will be red on the other side.

Funding from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement is earmarked to upgrade the junction in the longer-term and provide controlled pedestrian facilities on all crossings at the junction and improve road safety for turning vehicles.   

However, the design of the scheme is challenging due to the limited road space available and engineers are continuing to consider the design to minimise the delays to moving traffic as a result of the safety improvements.

In the interim period, the software that controls the existing traffic signals has been upgraded and the new traffic signal sequence is now being trialled. 

The new sequence will separate Church Road and Poulton Road, removing the need for right turning vehicles to give way to opposing traffic. This will allow engineers to assess the effect of the changes in the staging on traffic queue lengths at peak times.