The city road that’s painful to drive down because of the gridlock

If you’re unfortunate enough to need to drive down this road on the outskirts of Cardiff ^[1], you’ll need to take a few things into account before you plan how long it’s going to take you: is it rush hour? Is it school ^[2] drop-off or pick-up time? Are Cardiff City playing at home? Is it a Sunday morning, meaning hordes of shoppers are heading to Asda?

Any one of these things risks adding several minutes to your journey, as well as the frustration of nudging forward a few yards in your car as you watch the (numerous) sets of traffic lights go from green to red down the road in front of you. So if you want to get down this road without increasing your blood pressure, you need to choose your moment carefully.

But Cardiff council ^[3] says it has not “received any enquiries or complaints about an increase in traffic on Leckwith Road”. The traffic has long been bad on that stretch, and there have been recent changes, with the council installing new crossings ahead of the opening of the new Fitzalan High School building.

These include two toucan crossings and a zebra crossing at Lawrenny Avenue. Cardiff council said it introduced the crossings to improve the safety of pupils walking to school and added that some parents choosing to park at the nearby Lidl supermarket was resulting in a traffic pinch point and congestion.

One driver who regularly drives the road said: “I was heading to west Wales on a recent Friday evening. I picked my children up from school at 3.15pm and thought I’d just about be early enough to get out on the the A4232 and M4. I was expecting to hit heavy traffic by Port Talbot ^[6] at rush hour but not in trying to leave Cardiff at 3.15pm. How wrong I was.

“Traffic heading northbound on the A4232 was already backed up on to the Leckwith roundabout and didn’t appear to be moving so I thought I’d head back into Cardiff and try and get out via Ely and Culverhouse Cross. An hour after leaving Canton I was still in… Canton.”

A Cardiff council spokesperson said: “The council hasn’t received any enquiries or complaints about an increase in traffic on Leckwith Road, but new pedestrian crossings have been installed on this road to ensure the safety of pedestrians and school children. Lawrenny Avenue is part of the Schools Streets Scheme, so this road is closed during school drop-off and pick-up times to ensure the safety of school children.

“A park and stride is in place at Cardiff City Stadium, which allows parents to park and walk with their children to school. Instead of the school children navigating through traffic to cross Leckwith Road, they can now use the new pedestrian crossings to ensure their safety.”

Another school, Ysgol Gymraeg Pwll Goch, is located opposite where Fitzalan High School used to be located on Lawrenny Avenue.Fitzalan High was officially opened on Thursday, November 16. Construction on the school, which accommodates 1,850 pupils, started in March, 2021.

The Cardiff council spokesperson added: “Leckwith Road is a very busy area of the city for traffic due to the mix of retail, the stadium, and the school. During the early morning rush hour, unfortunately some parents choose to park at Lidl to drop off their children. When they try to leave the car park, it creates a traffic pinch point and congestion.

“Leckwith Road is also directly impacted by the traffic flow on the A4232 (link road). If there is congestion, or an incident on the link road, drivers look to divert off the carriageway onto Leckwith Road to go through Cardiff West. This in turn increases the congestion on Leckwith Road. The council makes no apologies to ensure the safety of school children and is content that the new scheme improves their safety.”

References

^{^} Cardiff (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^{^} school (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^{^} Cardiff council (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^{^} 21 facts about Cardiff’s past that will absolutely blow your mind (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^{^} Drivers filmed ‘sling-shotting’ roundabout to jump queue and provoking anger (www.walesonline.co.uk)
^{^} Port Talbot (www.walesonline.co.uk)