Derbyshire County Council had intended to make Green Lane one-way, southbound from the Fiveways junction, which is used by around 14,500 vehicles every day, to help reduce traffic congestion.
The Fiveways junction, situated to the south of the town centre, connects the busy A515, B5059 West Road, Dale Road and Green Lane.
The original plans recognised that new housing developments, including more than 800 homes to the south of the town centre and the relocation of the Aldi store to the Foxlow Farm site would increase the number of vehicles using the Fiveways junction.
Traffic impact assessments predicted that at peak evening rush hour, the number of vehicles queuing on West Road and London Road would increase by up to 151% and 88% following the completion of the new housing developments.
Following a 3-week consultation, the council have listened to the comments from local residents and now intend to retain the existing road layout and upgrade the traffic signals.
Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, councillor Kewal Singh Athwal, said:
“The Fiveways junction is already very busy and with the new housing development sites at Foxlow Farm, Harpur Hill and Trenchard Drive, we recognised that action was needed to address the inevitable increase in traffic through the junction and town centre.
“Our initial plans were designed to reduce traffic delays by removing Green Lane from the existing signalised junction and making it one-way to Compton Road.
“I’d like to thank local people for their feedback and we have listened very carefully to their comments, along with representations made by County Councillor Tony Kemp.
“We now intend to retain the existing junction layout and install state-of-the-art new signalling equipment to maximise the flow of traffic through the junction.
“In light of the new housing developments to the south of the town centre, we will monitor the impact of the new signalling equipment very carefully and review the layout of the junction if it becomes necessary in the future.
“Any future changes would be subject to scrutiny by local people as part of a further public consultation.”
The upgraded traffic lights will detect traffic more effectively and reduce waiting times for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists at the junction.
The lights will also include a monitoring and alert system to inform us of any signal faults to make sure repairs can be carried out swiftly to get the junction back up and running.
Work to install the new traffic lights is due to start on Wednesday 26 April, between 8am and 4pm weekdays. Subject to weather conditions, the work should be completed by the end of June.
