A £51.9 million scheme to reduce waiting times and introduce a raft of road improvements at Dawsons Corner and along Stanningley Bypass has moved a step closer to reality.
A council report has revealed the final design layout of the scheme, and given the go ahead to submit a final business case to the Department for Transport to inject funds into the major highways project.
The scheme includes:
- Improved pedestrian and cycling facilities at the Dawsons Corner junction linking in with the Leeds Bradford Cycle Superhighway
- Improved bus facilities with dedicated bus lanes on the A647 Bradford Road;
- Widening the carriageway on the A6120 Ring Road to improve the junction and accommodate a shared pedestrian/cycle route;
- Widening the A647 Stanningley Bypass to accommodate additional traffic lanes;
- Replace joints on the A647 Stanningley Bypass to avoid carriageway buckling in hot weather;
- Deliver landscape mitigation for the removal of some trees at Dawsons Corner.
Work is expected to start in summer 2024, subject to the Department of Transport agreeing a final business case to fund the scheme. There will be an 18-month construction period, with completion scheduled for winter 2025/26.
The government is set to provide £43.446m and West Yorkshire Combined Authority has injected up to £8.48m to enable works to be carried out.
The council report added: “The resultant scheme will reduce congestion and delays at this junction helping to support economic growth across Leeds and Bradford. The reduction in congestion will also lead to a better environment in terms of improved air quality.”
The council has also given the go ahead to award a contract to carry out the works. As previously reported by WLD, the scheme also involves purchasing land next to Dawson’s Corner, known as workhouse charity land and owned by the Calverley Charity.
A planning application for the scheme was approved in October 2022. The scheme was one of a number across the region delayed by West Yorkshire Combined Authority due to spiralling costs in 2022.
You can read the full report here.
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should repair potholes before this air brained scheme
Let’s hope it works because the money for gyratory and horsforth improvements has been a waste of money it’s not one bit better
Does this include replacement and future proofing the robustness of all underground services beneath the works…..the old old story well we have just spent 50 odd million improving the aesthetics only for a water main burst to spoil it after completion.
Brilliant. Looks awful and complicated. Traffic has only just got back to normal after the last hair brained scheme. What a waste of everyone’s time and money.
Then they’ll have to dig it all up again to run Brabin’s hair-brained tram scheme through the junction. All it needs is to widen the stretch of ring road between Dawson’s Corner and Rodley roundabout to proper dual carriageway with 2 lanes in both directions, and a more modern set of traffic lights that can react to traffic volumes instead of fixed timings.
I would agree with the previous comments – this will cause further delays when, and if completed, a waste of money. The council will always request/agree to money from central government to justify their own importance.
Stupid people again making up stupid ideas
Because they ride a bike.
These councillors want to remember who’s money it is they are totally wasting.
As previously stated fix the potholes on other main routes first
The other frustrating thing is Leeds and Bradford councils are both supposedly on the verge of bankruptcy, the council have been telling everyone for years they can’t dual carriageway the ring road between Rodley and Horsforth because they can’t afford to upgrade the bridges over the canal, river and railway line. Yet they can find literally millions to waste making a mess of City Square, demolishing New Station Street and engineering a new entrance to Leeds station that isn’t necessary, demolishing the NCP in Hall Ings to build a new gateway to the now-condemned Interchange, a tram scheme that’s been proposed and scrapped multiple times in the past instead of sorting out our existing public transport woes, and now this over-complicated solution that won’t fix anything.
If we were to listen to these commentators, we would still be using mud tracks in Leeds. Over time things need updating!
There is more cars on the road, so the only way to improve traffic is to make the roads bigger(wider) to accommodate said traffic.