Ground clearance work has taken place at Dawsons Corner ahead of a major £51 million scheme to improve traffic flow at the roundabout.
Photos sent to WLD by a reader show the clearance of the workhouse charity land next to Dawsons Corner. The land was formerly owned by The Calverley Charity, and has now been sold to the council.
A letter sent by SISK, the council’s contractors, to local residents said the scheme is ‘currently planned to be delivered later in the year’.
Government approval has not yet been given to the full scheme, which is part of a major project to streamline bus services between Leeds and Bradford. A proposed raft of road improvements at Dawsons Corner and along Stanningley Bypass would include:
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.
The ground clearance took place on 31 July and 1 August, and was carried out on low-lying vegetation with two remote-controlled mowers/strimmers.
WLD reported in March that the final design layout of the scheme had been approved and a final business case was to be submitted to the Department for Transport to inject funds into the major highways project.
A decision on the funding of the scheme has been delayed due to the general election.
The government is being asked to provide £43.446m and West Yorkshire Combined Authority has injected up to £8.48m to enable works to be carried out.
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.
Sponsored content
How does this fit in with the proposed plans for a tram network? Shouldn’t they be waiting to see what happens with all that before they do all this work, and then have to change it all again?
Well having recently seen the presentations on the tram network I would say:
1. the Tram plans are at a very early stage, whereas this scheme has been in the consultation pipeline for some years.
2. I have a funny feeling that the Tram planners are not even aware of this scheme ….. It is a different firm (Mott Macdonald) from the people (WSP) who designed this one
3. I guess, from past experience, that the trams are 10 years away from the first spade in the ground