Community reporter Neil Cullen provides a residents’ view on progress on the £44 million Dawsons Corner and Stanningley Bypass improvement scheme.
The west end cul-de-sac of The Fairway reverberated to the sound of loud chainsaws at 8am this morning (Monday).
A team of Yorkshire Tree Contractors were on site with a timber shredder and a large lorry to carry wood chips away. By shortly after 9am they were finished, swept up and having breakfast.
They had cut a swathe through the trees and scrub to the left of the works’ fencing which has barred the entrance for many months.
One guesses that this is preparation for the cycle/walkway which is planned from The Fairway to a new bus stop on the diverted carriageways, and thence to The Train Station, ASDA and all points west.
With full safety gear, tree climbing equipment and a ladder, the team took out dense scrub and two trees, leaving a squeaky clean street and a pile of large logs as a memento of their visit.
A cleanup team from the main SISK contractors appeared in the afternoon to remove a series of road barriers which had been abandoned outside the main site fence. Very businesslike.
Since the south side of Bradford Road has been cordoned off for some months, it is hard to discern progress on the main site, though much work has no doubt been happening beneath the ground as services are diverted and drains installed prior to building up the new carriageways.
The rumble and crunch of excavators day and night is the only evidence to those excluded from the site by mounds of stockpiled earth.
So this path-clearing activity is a welcome sign of progress toward a long-awaited short cut for residents, not just within the nearest Ederoyd estate but all points west which will benefit from a quieter alternative to the Leeds- Bradford cycle ‘superhighway’ a few streets away.
Though the final opening is now only expected in 2027, it is encouraging to see steady progress towards this goal.
Hopefully this will repay the patience of users during the long series of delays and diversions.
Road closure update
Overnight closures are taking place between 8pm-5am on Bradford Road and Farsley Ring Road this week.
Bradford Road will be closed from 8pm this evening (Tuesday, March 10) to 5am Wednesday, March 11. The lane closure is on Bradford Road (B6157) east towards Stanningley, affecting the eastbound lane of the Dawsons Corner roundabout to the Cole Lane junction.
Farsley Ring Road will be closed from 8pm Wednesday, March 11, reopening Thursday, March 12 at 5am, then close again from 8pm Thursday, March 12 until 5am Friday, March 13. The road closure will be for the northbound traffic only heading towards Rodley.
More details here.
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